Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter and am making no money from this.
Fleur
It's a long, slow walk back to Ravenclaw Tower. Cho is exhausted, so we're moving quite slowly.
"So what was that magic?" I ask. It's the obvious question, but why not start with obvious.
"It's from an old book Professor Dumbledore loaned me, about direct magical control of certain elemental effects. Things like control over fire, air, water, that sort of thing. It isn't something I've seen referred to in more modern magical texts. Some sort of elementalism is the closest modern term I suppose," Cho explains.
"And it always looks like that?" I've never seen or heard of magic like that, with no spoken words and large effects like that.
"I'm not quite sure. I've only gotten it to work a few times."
"You used magic you weren't sure of in a duel like that?"
"To be fair it wasn't so much a duel at that point as a catfight. And it seemed more dignified than hair pulling or using my finger nails to try and scratch her."
"I think it would have been entertaining either way."
"What, into seeing girls catfight?" Cho looks at me. "I had thought that was a more typically male guilty pleasure."
"Why should I deny myself a pleasure, guilty or otherwise? Just because I'm a girl? I'm much more open minded than that. If something is enjoyable, why not indulge?"
"I suppose."
It seems this is a bad direction for the conversation to take. All right, back on topic then."So tell me, is that magic always so draining?"
"That, that is a bit of an awkward question. From what I understand in the text, no, it normally should not be. The magic is meant for great old sages, for lack of a better term. Wizards with decades or even centuries of magical experience. All those years give a great command of and comfort with magic and knowledge of how it flows through the body, how to call it up and manipulate it. Granted that familiarity generally is with traditional spells and not in such an open and unstructured way, but still some experience does carry over."
"And all that means what, exactly?" In a way, it's lucky I didn't talk to her when I was here two years ago. My English would have been hard pressed to keep up with her.
"Oh, I'm sorry. The short version is this then. A certain degree of magical experience is needed for this, a high level in fact. Without that the magic takes a physical toll rather than a mental one, potentially a very enormous one as you saw. Supposedly if someone is well past that point where their mental capacity is sufficient for this the flow of magic can be an exhilarating feeling. Obviously, I am far from that point. The only reason it works at all is because I am in very good physical shape."
That's certainly true, Cho is in good shape, very good shape in fact. Lovely curves in all the right places, the sort of proportions most girls would kill for. No, stop it, Fleur, stop right there. She's with Harry. I can't let my mind wander in that direction; nothing good happens if I do.
Pansy
"Gin, are you ok?" The idiot weasel asks his sister, who still hasn't gotten up off the ground.
"I'm fine," she answers.
"Are you sure? Because that looked bloody close."
"I said I'm fine," she snaps.
"All right, fine, I was just making sure." The idiot looks at Potter. "Your bloody girl almost killed her."
"She said she was in control, Ron." Wow, lame answer there, Potter.
"Like hell she was. She was inches from roasting poor Gin alive. And she didn't exactly look like she was in control of much when it was over; Cho could barely stand. And what was that magic anyway? I've never seen anything like it. What about you, Hermione, you know what it was?"
"I'm actually as in the dark as you are, Ron," Hermione answers.
"I've seen magic like that before," Harry offers. "Last year, at the Ministry."
"What? She's using Death Eater magic? Hell, I expected that of Parkinson, not Cho though."
Death Eater magic? What, does the idiot think Death Eaters have some communal book of Secret and Evil Spells? Maybe a secret handshake too? Actually, he's a damned moron, so maybe he really does think that.
"Look, Harry, she's your girl, I get it, but if she's doing that sort of stuff she's dangerous. What if she goes after Gin again?"
"I can take care of myself, Ron," the girl weasel tries to calm her brother down.
"But Gin, that almost went really bad."
"I said drop it, alright? Yep, pissed off now. "Look, I'm going back to the tower. Just try and relax, all right?"
Ginny makes her exit and almost immediately her idiot brother tries to go after her. Hermione stops him though.
"Maybe it would be better if I talked to her," Hermione suggests. I don't really expect him to buy it, but he does. Hermione goes after the girl and her brother stays here. I tag along with Hermione, of course.
We catch up with her back in the common room. "What do you want, Hermione?" the girl weasel demands.
"To talk."
"Duh, I didn't think you were here for a game of chess."
"So how are you? Are you all right, Ginny?"
"I'm fine; my brother already covered this." Pissy mood. Wonder if it's because she lost a fight or because people are smothering her. Actually, it's probably both.
"I know you're fine physically; it's obvious you weren't burnt. I meant how you feel."
"I feel lousy. Merlin, Hermione, you usually don't ask such stupidly obvious questions."
"I was trying to be tactful," Hermione explains. "If you prefer blunt, however… Just what in the world were you thinking, Ginny? She's two years older than you, and has developed something of a taste for combat. I tried to tell you that before you took her on. Just how did you think things would go?"
"I don't know. I was just tired of her attitude and decided to do something about it."
"Good job," I comment with a smirk.
"Oh shut up, Parkinson." Ginny tries to look intimidating and pissed off. It she hadn't just gotten her ass kicked it'd work a lot better.
"Ginny, you have to think things through, not just lose your temper and lash out," Hermione totally ignores my comment.
"Yeah, yeah, I know." Ginny basically ignores Hermione.
"No, I'm serious. Other than a scare and some lingering embarrassment nothing bad happened this time, but it could have. You need to learn to control your emotions, and for goodness' sake, don't shoot people in the back."
"Yeah, seriously, Hermione's right," I agree. "You Gryffindors are idiots and like fair fights and all that crap, I know, but take it from someone who doesn't give a shit about that stuff, you can't pull crap like what you did."
"What, you're going to try and tell me Slytherin don't attack people when their backs are turned?" The girl weasel challenges.
"I'm telling you you're a god damned idiot, and if you're going to hit someone in their back you need to know what you're doing, and you obviously don't."
"Gee, thanks for piling on, you're so helpful."
"Oh save it you twit. You want to get the shit kicked out of you for real next time? Fine, keep talking. If you'd like to learn something shut the hell up and listen. Your call."
The girl weasel and I just stare at each other for a bit. Normally I don't mind her but she's going out of her way to be a pissy bitch today. Makes me wish Cho had kicked her ass for real, not just embarrassed her in a duel.
Finally, it's obvious she's not going to try and mouth off again, so I decide to continue my teaching. "Ok, look, if you're going at someone's back you've got to make sure you do it right, and you made two mistakes. One, if you do it, put your target down. If you don't all you do is piss them off. Seriously, if you can't put someone down with a free shot then you shouldn't be taking them on in the first place. And two, if you're going to sucker punch someone like that, don't let them see you. It just pisses people off. You fucked up both. You're just lucky Cho's in Ravenclaw and didn't totally lose her temper, just mostly."
"I'm lucky?"
"That's right. If you did what you did to someone in Slytherin they wouldn't have stopped their spell at the last minute, they'd have roasted you."
"That spell looked like it was enough to be fatal many, many times over," Hermione points out.
"Yeah, it did," I agree. "And probably a Slytherin would have tried to turn it down enough to not be fatal, but they sure as fuck would have roasted the girl weasel here and put her ass in the hospital. And every witness would have claimed it was her own doing, some experimental spell that got out of her control or something. Anything that would make it look like her own damned fault, because to a Slytherin it was. You don't shoot someone in the back and fuck it up that bad."
"Wait, girl weasel?" Huh, guess I never used that one where she could hear before. Oops.
"Um, that's Pansy's nickname for you," Hermione explains.
"Well it's not a very nice one."
"It could be worse. Trust me, Ron's is." Hermione smiles awkwardly.
"Look, whatever, you're missing the damned point here," I point out. "If you're outgrowing that stupid fair fight crap, great. But you can't just do stupid shit and expect to get away with it."
"Fine, dually noted. We done here?" Apparently my teachings are unappreciated by the girl weasel. She seems to like asking questions she doesn't want an answer to too, since she leaves before Hermione or I can answer.
"Um, I think you may need to work on your tone for teaching a bit," Hermione points out.
Yeah, whatever. If the advice is good who gives a damn about my tone? And my advice is as good as it gets.
Cho
It's normal for there to be some strain to friendships and relationships before a game of Quidditch where the people involved are on opposite teams. Loyalty to the team weighed against loyalty to a friend or significant other, and so on. It's all part of life at Hogwarts; I've accepted that. It's actually enjoyable in a way, it adds drama and tension to the game, makes it feel more significant.
That being said, I do wish today's game had a bit less of that sort of drama around it. Yes, it is against Gryffindor, and that means Harry, Ron and Ginny are on the opposite team, so some of this sort of gamesmanship is to be expected. Using the game as an excuse to hold a grudge for the duel at the DA however, is something I very much could do without.
Ron's new favorite line is one I hear every morning at breakfast whenever someone takes a piece of toast. "No, leave that one for Cho, she likes them burnt." Truly hilarious, especially after hearing it every day for ten days straight now. Persistent, if not particularly creative.
For her part Ginny has kept to dirty looks and the like. Far easier to ignore, though it does start to grate after a while. If I'd picked a fight or slighted her, taken something or insulted her, did something tangible to her I could understand, but this is almost like she's doing it simply to be contrarian. I'm more outgoing and visible, and thus more popular and she dislikes me simply to go against the grain. I can't honestly believe it's because she thinks I'm making a fool of Harry somehow based on how I choose to dress. No, to me that's a rationalization to explain away emotion from a different source.
In a pure, theoretical sense I may enjoy the puzzle and try and figure out the source of Ginny's resentment towards me, but in the real world I can't bring myself to care. It's simply tiresome, that entire family is. I've never had a problem with the Weasleys, I found the twins' antics amusing in fact, but these two are giving me no end of reasons to wish that family would simply go away or find some other crusade or at least some other person to focus their tender affections on.
It's affected my relationship with Harry as well, and not in a positive way. Some distance is natural before a Quidditch game, particularly since we're captains of the opposing teams, but this feels like more than that. I have no way to prove it, but I have the strong sense that one or both Weasleys are actively trying to sabotage my relationship, the cliché whispers in Harry's ear when I'm not around, when they're all up in Gryffindor Tower.
There's little signs, Harry's smile when he sees me seeming to be a bit forced, or the fact that Ron seems to show up as if by magic (ironic, I know) every time I would normally meet with Harry alone. It's reminiscent of the sort of vexatious games Marietta Edgecombe played last year. I'd like to hope that things will return to normal after the Quidditch game. I'd also like to hope that my parents will write me a letter telling me they'll support me no matter what I choose to do with my life. Both are equally likely futures.
That's not to say my life has been an exercise in loneliness and ostracization. Fleur seems to always be happy to see me, have a smile and a kind word, has taken to sitting next to me and walking with me between some classes even. I'd almost say she's picking up the slack for the affection I've lost from Harry, as odd as that sounds.
I'm not sure if thinking of it like that is simply a convenient turn of phrase or her actual intentions. I've never met a Veela before, but given what I know of their nature, a certain flirtiness seems natural. Still, when she was walking me back from that DA meeting I'm almost certain I caught her checking me out a few times. But whatever her intentions, there's no doubt she's taken a liking to me.
It's certainly welcome company, someone to talk to and be around when the Gryffindors are giving me the cold shoulder. Fleur is intelligent, outgoing and pleasant to talk to. I'll have to divine her intentions, and sooner rather than later, but none of that is my concern at this moment.
Right now I'm in the locker room before the first game of the season. Everyone is dressed and ready to head out in a few minutes. All that remains is the pre-game speech from our captain: my speech.
"All right everyone, listen up," I start. "It's our first game of the season, and I know we're favored rather heavily, but this game is as serious as any other. If we want to win another championship, and I know we all do, we need to start with a win here today. Also, I know quite a few of us have hopes of a Quidditch career. Recruits are here today, so we all need to make a strong first impression.
"Gryffindor is mostly a new team, so we should have a strong advantage over that. That being said, Harry is an experienced seeker on a professional broom, so unless we get and hold a strong lead, he can still win the game for Gryffindor let's keep our formations tight and press our advantage in organization. I want to see an early lead we can build on so the game is won regardless of the snitch. Good luck, and let's show them how the best Quidditch team in Hogwarts gets it done."
With that done I lead my team out onto the field. I've gone back and forth all week about just how hard I should push it this game. Ravenclaw's a far superior team to Gryffindor, there's no doubt about it, and barring Harry beating me to the snitch early (their obvious strategy), we should win be a large margin.
Over the course of last year, I became increasing aggressive with my flying, taking to flying through enemy formations to disrupt them. It's a very aggressive and effective tactic, one that against a team as inexperienced as Gryffindor could reduce their team to shambles. It's also not a traditional tactic and one that I strongly suspect some people (especially certain red heads) would call unsportsmanlike, mean spirited and unnecessarily piling on a team that has virtually no chance.
I walkout onto the pitch, look over the Gryffindor team and see the sour look Ginny has just for me and I'm decided: crush them.
We shake hands, as is tradition at the start of games and take to the air. Madame Hooch blows her whistle and the game is on. I get some distance from the play, as is normal for a seeker and stay there for only a few seconds before accelerating suddenly towards the center of the Gryffindor mass of players (I can't in good faith call it a formation; they don't appear to even be trying to establish one.)
The poor clods outright panic, scattering in every direction. Our team takes advantage and Ron (the Gryffindor keeper) is facing three of ours with no Gryffindor defenders to help him. The result is obvious: the first goal of the game.
I spend the next several minutes alternating between looking for the snitch in the usual seeker fashion and flying through the Gryffindor formations. Our team is doing quite well, even without my disruptions they're creating a lot of odd man chances that lead to good scoring opportunities. Ron doesn't seem to be playing badly from what I can see, but even the best keeper can't guard against 2 or 3 on 1 situations very well.
After one of my passes through the enemy formation, when I've moved to a farther out distance to look for the snitch, Harry flies up alongside me.
"Not taking it easy on us at all?" he asks.
"Did you expect that we would?"
"Not really."
"It's no different from any other game we've played; we play our best and in the end one of us wins. Besides, we aren't running up the score. We're establishing a solid early lead to make sure we can't lose the game no matter what happens with the snitch. This isn't simply an exhibition match, after all; it has implications for the championship at the end of the year, as well as professional recruitment."
"I see," is Harry's reply before flying off.
He's obviously not happy with my answer. Still, I don't see how he has cause to be upset. He can't really have thought I'd let him win? The odds of this match were clear; was I supposed to throw it for my boyfriend? Simply ignore that a loss may cost up the cup, that it will look bad for anyone aiming to play professionally, maybe even cost them their future? What, to spare feelings? As some sort of reconciliatory gesture to the Weasley family?
I'm sorry, but if that's what Harry is looking for he came to the wrong girl. I wouldn't want someone to simply give me a victory like that; if I can't earn it I shouldn't get it, and I won't simply throw a game for someone else.
Still, winning and making our team and individual members look good does not necessitate running up the score. The snitch being captured ends the game and gives the capturing team 150 points, so when we are up by 180 points we start dialing our offense back. Our offense stops pushing so hard, we substitute in some of our newer players to get them game time, I stop flying into the Gryffindor formations to disrupt them and play a much more traditional, much more passive seeker play style. Not to say we give up, rather than we seek to maintain our lead.
Harry also changes tactics, giving up on playing seeker entirely (after all, why worry about the hundred fifty points when it won't get you anything that matters) and moves to join the rest of his team. There he acts as a sort of coordinator or director for his offense and defense, calling out plays, taking some passes and in general trying to use the game as a team building and teaching exercise.
That's how the game goes, with our team maintaining our lead and giving newer players experience and Harry coaching his team to try and make some sort of benefit out of the inevitable loss. Eventually I find the snitch and end the game. It's hardly the thrilling chase I expected, the dramatic finish that will be memorable for the professional scouts in the stands, but a win is a win. I'll simply trust my tactics were good enough, that, when combined with the upcoming games, it will be enough.
Hermione
My last letter to the Minister nicely suggested that his election could greatly benefit from the endorsement and support of heroes, that in a time like this people need heroes, look up to them and are likely to support people those heroes support. I again expressed how important the matter of Parkinson Manor is to me, and how I feel it is a moral imperative where if the laws conflict, the law should be made to give way. Finally, I suggested that should he disagree, should he not do what is right that hero support could look elsewhere for a home.
I feel the letter was well written, the right amount of subtlety and openness in what I want and completely reasonable. It was ignored.
Before this I got the Magic World's equivalent of a form letter, this time I got only silence. Fine, apparently the Minister either thinks I'll give up, cannot deliver what I promise, our support is not relevant or simply think I'm a child he can ignore. I tried very hard to not be put in this position, but apparently raw threats are all that's left to me. I suppose I'll have to write a letter worthy of Pansy then.
I take it from your lack of response to my last letter that you have decided to take no action on the matter of Parkinson Manor. I had previously suggested what would take place if you chose this course of action, let me now state it openly. I, Pansy Parkinson, Ronal Weasley, Luna Lovegood, Ginerva Weasley, Cho Chang and Harry Potter will actively campaign for your political defeat.
You will see interviews and editorials from us on a daily basis, your opponents will enjoy photo opportunities with us and our full and open support, and we will lay the blame for all the ills plaguing the wizarding world, including the return of Voldermort himself at your feet.
I would hope you are well aware from last year how we are fully capable of getting our voice out to the media even in the face of outright censorship from the Ministry, so do not think that this is an idle threat or that we are somehow unable to carry this out.
Now, should you wish to avoid this, you still have one chance. If in the next week I see legitimate action on the matter of Parkinson Manor and Pansy Parkinson's rights to it and her proper title, we will withhold action. If your actions should yield positive results you may yet see our support, but my patience on this matter is at an end. In the next week either I will read about your actions in the Daily Prophetor you will read about ours. The choice is yours, Minister.
There, that should do the job. I do hate having to resort to this, but I'm out of options. I just can't stand to see Pansy living as a charity case all her life. I know I've pushed her to plan for a career, and I think it's good advice she should follow, but at the same time, it's hard to see Pansy as an office drone (or whatever the wizarding equivalent of one is.)
Yes, if she had to (and I pushed her hard enough) she'd get some job, but I know she would hate it, and seeing her like that is not something I want for us. A miserable life can eat at you, and seeing someone I love like that…. No, I can't let that happen. As bad as what I'm doing is, I still see it as by far the lesser of two evils.
Of course it wouldn't be an exchange of correspondence with the Minister without Ginny, and right on cue she's sitting down next to me. Honestly, how does the girl know? Are there psychic wizards? It makes me wonder.
"Hmm, another letter? Can I see?" Apparently the question is rhetorical, because Ginny snatches the letter out of my hand and starts reading.
She takes a minute to read it, and the read it again before looking up at me. "Merlin, Hermione, you're really going to send this?"
"Oh, yes, um, about that. I am sorry to cite you in it, act as if I'm speaking for you and the others. I don't plan to actually put words in your mouth for any newspaper articles or anything, I simply felt the added credibility from all of our names would add weight," I explain.
"That's not the bloody point," Ginny almost yells.
"Oh. So it's, um, the rest."
"Yes, the rest. The whole big thing where you're threatening. Threatening the Minister of Magic."
"Interim Minister," I correct.
"That's not the point and you know it."
"All right, fine, it isn't. But what other option do I have?"
"What about live with things the way they are? Give up on this and just face reality like a normal person."
"Because that's not good enough, Ginny. Because I'm not a normal person. I'm not sure if any of us are. I know Harry wants to be, but I don't think I am, I know Pansy isn't, neither is Cho. And certainly no one will ever accuse Luna of being normal. Maybe you and Ron are, I don't know. And because living with things the way they are isn't something I can live with."
"Why not? Just what the hell is so wrong with how things are? So Pansy isn't rich with a big mansion and title and all that, so what?" Ginny demands.
"You might be able to live like that, and I could, but she can't. Ginny, she lost everything. Think about that, what if you lost your home, your family, your friends, all of it? Could you really live like that? And more to the point, I can't live with that. Seeing the person I love unhappy every day? No, I simply refuse."
"Basically declaring war on the Minister of Magic is not alternative, I don't care how interim he is.".
"Ginny, listen, please," I keep my tone slow and patient. "I love Pansy, and she loves me. I know that letter is extreme, but I have to do it. The thought of living our lives together and seeing her miserable when I could do something to prevent it…. I have to try, even if it is unreasonable."
"Ok, I get it means a lot to you, and you're going to send that letter, but I still think it's a bad idea."
"Then I suppose both of us are picking fights with opponents out of our league lately."
"Yeah, not sure if you noticed, but Cho and the Minister aren't exactly the same here."
"Perhaps, perhaps not. I am curious if you still are fighting with her or feuding or whatever it is that was going on though."
"I don't know." Ginny shrugs a bit. "I mean yeah, I still don't really like her, how she acts and dresses and all, and I think she's all wrong for Harry, but it doesn't seem like I'm exactly doing much about it at the moment. Kind of obvious a magical fight isn't going to go my way, neither did Quidditch, so I don't know. And I'm not going to go take her on in a catfight, no matter how much your girlfriend wants to see it. So it doesn't really matter if I like her or not, does it? There's not much I can do about it."
"The Quidditch match wasn't the disaster some people predicted," I point out.
"Yeah, once they got a big enough lead so they couldn't lose they started taking it easy on us, switching out people for their second stringers and all," Ginny agrees. "Then Harry started basically just coaching and helping out our regular lines, it all wound up some weird practice skirmish more than a game. We still lost though, even if it wasn't a big blowout like it could have been."
"That sounds rather decent of her."
"Look, Hermione you want us to get along, I get it. But I'm just not looking to be all happy friends with her and stuff."
"All right. But the two of you used to get along, I really do wish you would again."
"Yeah, and you didn't used to threaten the head of the country. Times change I guess."
Author's Notes:
Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope everyone's enjoying the start of the holidays, spending time with family if they can and appreciating what we have.
Thanks to that-fan for his help with editing. And of course thanks to everyone who reads and reviews. Reviews are great, I really appreciate all of them that I get.