Author's Notes:
Standard Disclaimer: It all belongs to JKR. That you JKR for letting us play with your toys.
I will continue to use the occasional song lyric in the story and will give credit at the time when needed.
This is the fifth book in my Slytherin Harry series.
Book 1 Harry Potter and the Muggle's Daughter.
Book 2: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Book 3: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Book 4: Harry Potter and the Blood Traitor's Daughter
Book 5: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
If you haven't read books 1-4 you won't know what's going on. But the bonus is you've got four completed books before you even get to this one!
HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE
CHAPTER IVX
The Visceral Reaction
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David Akers knocked on the door of his head of house's office. "Come," Professor Vector barked. David pushed the door open and quietly closed it behind him. She was marking an exam and he patiently waited for her to finish. It took only a minute or so before she set her quill aside and looked up. "I won't rescind the suspension," she said.
"Professor, may I speak freely?"
She raised an eye. "Very well, go on then?"
"Whatever guilt Potter carries for this, and I'll add I think it's unfair any of them are being punished, my team is guilty of nothing. It's unfair for you to punish us by taking Potter away."
"Mr Akers, it is well known to all players that you are held to higher standards and risk being banned from matches for any number of reasons. The shame of disappointing your teammates in this manner is, in fact, exactly why this particular punishment has been, and will continue to be, used. Mr Potter broke the rules. He is being punished for that. If you and your team are unhappy with that, then your anger should be directed at the person responsible."
David took a breath, steadying himself. He was risking an awful lot here, but Potter was his player and while they may not have been the best of friends, he was certain if their places were switched, Potter wouldn't hesitate to do the same for him. "And what punishment do you and the rest of the professors face for allowing it to come to this?"
"Excuse me?"
"Every student in the school knows Potter and his friends lied about tripping into that suit of armor. Every student in the school watched you and the rest of the professors saying and doing nothing when the Durmstrang students got out of line. Even when someone actually complained nothing was done. So, just like with Snape, every student in the school learned to stay out of their way." He stopped. She said nothing. "The team is angry, Professor. But they're not angry with Potter. They're angry with you and the rest of the staff. They're angry because Potter is being used as a scapegoat for something you all knew about and didn't stop. They're angry because they have to pay the price when you and the rest of the staff are at fault. And you should know, the team voted, unanimously, to forfeit the match this weekend and the only reason we aren't is because Potter got wind of it and wouldn't let us."
Professor Vector drew a slow breath. "Will that be all, Mr Akers?"
"Yes."
"You may go then."
"Do you want my badge?"
"Did I ask for it?"
"No, Ma'am." She did nothing but continue to hold his eyes. "Thank you for seeing me, Ma'am," he said and left. He closed the door and sagged against the wall.
"Well?" Terrance asked. Minus Potter, the rest of the team was waiting in the hall. They'd wanted to come in with him, but, like Potter, he couldn't let them take that risk for him. He was the captain. It was his job to look out for them. As she actually had a chance to play beyond school, Weasley especially, couldn't be allowed to do something stupid that might throw her career away before it even started. Before he could answer, the door of the office slammed open. Professor Vector stopped abruptly, clearly not having expected to find them there. The team straightened. She looked at them. They looked at her.
"Did you need something?"
"No, Ma'am," Paden said.
"Very good then." She swept off down the hallway. The moment she was around the corner everyone sagged against the wall.
"Bloody hell," Terrance muttered.
It was another few seconds before anyone said anything. "Are you still captain?" Ginny asked.
"Yes."
"Thank the goddess," she slumped to the floor. She'd have done it if she had to, but she really had been terrified her dream of playing for the Harpies was over before it ever began.
The team stared down at her. "Ginny?" Tiffany asked.
"Yes?"
"Everyone else swears on Merlin. You, Harry and Daphne all swear on the goddess, or Nimue… Why?"
Ginny glanced at all of them. The goddess hadn't told them not to tell, but given the future they feared, Nimue was an ace in the hole Tom didn't need to know about. Of course it probably would have been a good idea not to use her name, in whatever form, from the beginning if they'd wanted it kept secret. She pushed herself up and dusted her skirt off. "Because meeting her left an impression," she said. She held their eyes for another second. "Thank you for sticking by, Harry. I promise, none of us, Nimue included, will forget it… If you'll excuse me, I've got an essay for Flitwick I need to finish." She turned and walked away.
"You know," Paden said, "as pretty as she is, Potter's welcome to her."
Tiffany let out a little huff. "Funny, I was going to say pretty much the same thing about her being welcome to Potter."
"You think they'll drop the ban?" Terrance asked.
"Doubt it," David said.
"How is it one Death Eater walks in this school and suddenly none of the professors can do their job?" Amber demanded.
"You think maybe he was the one who put Potter's name in?" David asked.
Amber shrugged. "Makes sense."
"Those are dangerous words, Payne," Terrance warned.
She turned on him. "Think about it. At least with Snape he'd supposedly turned spy before You-Know-Who was killed. Karkaroff was caught after You-Know-Who was stopped. He didn't claim the Imperious Curse. He just whined and cried that he'd been too scared to say no when You-Know-Who asked him to join and he only got off because he squealed like a stuck pig and named like a dozen other Death Eaters."
"How do you know all that?" Tiffany asked.
"Because my father was one of the prosecuting solicitors in the case. He almost didn't let me come back to school this year because he knew Karkaroff was going to be here."
"Does your father think he would have put Harry's name in?"
"He thinks anyone who was a true Death Eater would do anything to get revenge on Harry for stopping the Dark Lord." The team stood there in silence for few moments, considering what she'd said.
"So what should we do?" David asked.
"What do you mean what should we do? I'm staying as far away from Karkaroff and the rest of those Durmstrang slugs as I can."
"I'm willing to stick my neck out when it's Vector, but I'm not going up against a Death Eater," Terrance said.
"Me either," Paden said. The others murmured agreement.
Osian Thwaite sat at the table in the library with Cormac MacDougal, Jamison Eldred, Xui Fung and Amanda Dewer. Cormac was a third year and a fellow backup beater on the quidditch team with him. Jamison and Xui were second-years and backup slashers while Amanda was a backup slasher and a first-year. Being the youngest members of the team they tended to do a lot more listening than talking and hadn't said much since learning Harry had been banned from their next match and the twenty-four hours of turmoil that followed. But all of them, along with their friends, had come under Harry's protection from older Slytherins from the pureblood set. "I'll talk to my friends," Amanda said.
"Me too," Cormac said.
"Us too, Jamison and Xui agreed.
"I'd probably be dead if Harry hadn't stopped Roach and his boyfriends from throwing me over the rail last year. The least I can do is keep an eye out." The others nodded.
"See you at practice then," Amanda said.
Cormac nodded. "Later, Mate."
"See you," Osian said.
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"Hello, Luv," Mrs Tonks said.
Harry glowered at her. It was the day after the third quidditch weekend of the year and Slytherin had fallen to Hufflepuff while he had served his one match ban. His last chance to play against Cedric had been taken from him and he was not in a good mood. The final score had been 500-350 to the Puffs. Admittedly, the score didn't look good, but he would easily have scored more than the 40 points his replacement, Michael, had. If he had been marking Cedric, Ginny would have been free to rack up far more than six goals and a single snitch. Harry figured his presence on the pitch would easily have been worth 200 points to Slytherin on the offensive side of things and that said nothing for what he'd have contributed defensively. Everyone knew the Puffs had dodged a stunner; Cedric had even said as much to him after. The admission had just made Harry angrier.
She smiled calmly. "All right then, let's have it."
"What was the point in getting rid of Snape if the next Death Eater who walks in the place is just going to have everyone letting him get away with the same shit Snape got away with?"
"Did you, or did you not lie to Professor Vector about being pushed into a suit of armor? And do not give me any lies about turning the other cheek. I am not Sirius or Lord Greengrass."
"Fine, I lied. And I had every intention of beating the living hell out of him when I did it. But I never followed through on it. I didn't go looking for that fight. Not once did I look at the map to see if I could catch them alone and you damn well know I could have. And if I'm not allowed to lie about turning the other cheek, don't you give me any bullshit about the teachers not knowing what was going on. That fight happened because they came after us. And thank Nimue they did because at least we were capable of defending ourselves. Anyone else and it would have been like Malfoy and his goons throwing Osian over the fourth floor balcony before I showed up and stopped them."
"You seem to have a rather low opinion of your fellow students' ability to defend themselves."
"THEY SHOULDN'T HAVE TO DEFEND THEMSELVES!" Harry exploded.
"Watch your tone, Harry James Potter."
Harry took a number of deep breaths, trying to calm himself. "Do you have any idea how many people have thanked me for getting rid of them?" he asked quietly.
"Harry—"
"Everyone knew. Mum knew. McGonagall, Vector, Flitwick, Sprout, Dumbledore, the Minister of Magic knew because her bloody damn niece, Susan Bones, told her. You knew. And not one of you did a thing. Just like with Snape, like fucking ostriches, you stuck your heads in the sand and when I finally made a mistake and was forced to defend myself, you punished me. You don't like my tone. Too – Fucking – Bad." He turned on his heel and stalked out of the room.
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"Congratulations," Ron said dejectedly. Week four of the season had come and gone and with Harry's return Slytherin had returned to the win column with a hard fought 570-470 win over Gryffindor. Ron had improved big time since being forced onto the field for a fallen Oliver Wood the year before.
Ginny ignored his hand and stepped in to hug him. "You played well, Ron."
He awkwardly hugged her back. "Not well enough," he muttered before Ginny released him.
Harry stuck his hand out. "One on one, Keepers don't win that battle very often." The match had turned in the last ten minutes when Harry had gambled and intercepted a Gryffindor pass at midfield. Quaffle in hand he'd been twenty yards clear of a single defender in a blink. The goal and subsequent second snitch of the match over the first Amber had been chasing at the time had allowed Slytherin to eek out the win. "Can't believe you even got your hand on it."
"It's these massive arms," Ginny said. She grabbed Ron's arm and held it aloft. "Born keeper," she said.
Ron shoved her. "Geroff, Ginny." She laughed.
"Seriously," Harry said. You played well."
Ron sighed. "Yeah, well maybe next year, Potter."
"Looking forward to it," Harry said. He slipped his arm around Ginny.
The rest of the team swept into them. "Come on you two," Amber cried.
"Party in the common room!" Terrance added.
"See you, Ron!" Ginny called as they were carried away.
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Harry stepped in to the Room of Requirement, quietly closed the door and waited. "If you ever," his Mum began. She stopped, pressed her lips together angrily and forced herself to take a breath. "How dare you," she began again. "After everything Andi has done for you, for us, how dare you speak to her in that manner."
"I'm sorry, Mum."
"You're damn right, you're sorry," she snapped.
"I said I was sorry," he snapped back.
She glared at him. "Watch your tone, young man."
"It was true and you know it. I'm sorry I hurt her, but it was true."
"And it's also true that you have been told, repeatedly, to stop with these petty rivalries."
"I did stop!"
"I told you—"
"No! You're doing it now too. I stopped, Mum. You know I did. I could have gotten Gregor alone almost any time I wanted since he knocked me into that suit of armor. I didn't. I'm sorry for yelling at Andi the way I did, but I'm not sorry for telling the truth."
She held his eyes. "You're right."
"Thank you."
"You will apologize to Andi."
"Yes, Mum." She opened her arms. Harry stepped to her. "I'm sorry I yelled at you too."
"We failed you, Harry. And once again you paid the price for that failure. I'm sorry too."
He let her go and sat down. She took the chair across from him. "I know you and Andi and Minister Bones couldn't really do anything, not till that night, but why didn't the professors?"
She sighed. "Discipline of students remains at the discretion of their headmaster or mistress. Minerva says she and staff spoke to Karkaroff a number of times. When nothing changed they asked Dumbledore to speak with him. Their hands were tied till they did something so egregious the ministry could get involved."
"I thought Dumbledore had the right to deny entry to anyone he choose. Isn't that how he kept the dementors off the grounds last year?"
"That's not entirely true. Even his decisions can be appealed to the board. And the ministry can step in when a matter gets to be as big as this one did."
Harry sat back with his arms crossed and thought for a bit. "I don't know if I want to come back next year, Mum."
"Let's get you through the tournament and we'll figure out what to do about your education afterwards. All right?" Nothing was said for close to a minute and she just waited him out.
"Do I dare ask about Malfoy?"
She grimaced. "There's no evidence, Harry."
"Why can't they just arrest him and feed him veritaserum?" She said nothing. Harry clenched his jaw. They could accuse him all they wanted but without evidence they couldn't arrest him and they certainly wouldn't be able to feed him veritaserum. "Will Andi be here next week?"
"Harry, you know you can't do anything to Draco, right?"
"It's been two weeks, Mum," he said pointedly.
"I mean it Harry. You can't touch him." Harry pressed his lips together angrily. "Harry," she warned.
He abruptly stood. "Then he better never so much as lay a finger on her." He stalked to the door.
"Harry, stop." He did, but didn't turn back. She stood and crossed to him. Placing her hand on his shoulder she turned him around. Green eyes locked. "I love you."
Harry sighed and moved into her arms. "I love you too, Mum." She crushed him tight. He eventually pushed back. "I'll send Andi a letter."
"Good."
"And I swear, as long as he stays away from Ginny, I won't touch him."
"Acceptable."
Harry pulled her tight again before stepping back. "If I'm not having a lesson, I should go. I've a ton of revision to get done."
"Need any help?" she asked.
Harry thought she sounded hopeful. He slowly grinned. "Yeah, I do." She beamed and pulled him back to the sitting area.
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Disillusioned, Fleur followed Daphne and Neville into a storage room deep in the bowels of the castle. The two waited a moment for her to enter before closing the door. Daphne then proceeded to cast a number of locking and silencing charms on it that were far beyond what Fleur would have expected she would be capable of; two of them she hadn't even recognized.
"You can take the charm off now," Neville said. Fleur canceled her Disillusionment Charm and shimmered into view.
"There you are!" Rowena cried, swooping down on her. She embraced the French witch warmly before pushing her back and kissing her on each cheek. Fleur blinked a bit dazedly. It was a standard French greeting, but she hadn't realized she was on such familiar terms with the English witch. Rowena grinned at her. "We're not hiding in here, Fleur. And while I've only had the pleasure of your company a few times, I quite enjoyed it."
Cedric stepped next to Rowena. "Nice Disillusionment Charm."
"Thh–thhank y–you," Fleur said, struggling to get the pronunciation correct.
"Heyyy," Cedric said. "Not bad. Daphne says she's been helping you with your English."
Fleur blushed. "She's improving nicely," Daphne said.
"I vish I could say the same," Viktor said, joining them. "But then my teacher is not so enchanting as you."
Daphne smiled at him. "Hello, Viktor."
He bowed slightly before turning his attention to Fleur. Reaching for her hand he raised it to his lips. "It is good to see you again."
She smiled. "It is good to see y–you too. Y–you are well?"
"Vell enough."
Just then the door opened, admitting Harry, Hermione, Ginny and Luna. "No problems?" Harry asked.
"They're here, aren't they?" Daphne answered.
"But 'ow did you open the door?" Fleur asked.
"We're keyed to the wards," Hermione answered.
"But 'ow do you know zese zings?" Fleur protested.
"That's a long story I'm afraid I can't answer for you right now," Harry said.
"And we're not here for that anyway," Ginny said. She stuck her hand out. "We've yet to be introduced. Ginny Weasley."
Fleur took her hand. "Fleur Delacour."
"Nice to meet you," Ginny said.
Hermione was next. "Hermione Granger." Fleur shook her hand as well. Hermione elbowed Luna. Luna glared at the French witch. "Luna," Hermione said pointedly.
"Oh, fine!" Luna stuck her hand out. "Luna Lovegood. Before you shake my hand you might want to consider I'm a disgusting lesbian and it could be catching."
"LUNA!" Hermione cried.
Luna ignored her. "Well?" she challenged.
Fleur ignored her hand, took her shoulders and pressed a kiss to each cheek. "I am sorry I h–hurt y–you."
"You might apologize to Tabitha as well."
"I h–have."
Luna eyed her. "Very good then, but I shall be watching you."
"I understand."
Luna turned to Hermione. "Happy?"
"And you lectured me on how I treated Ginny and Daphne?"
Luna opened her mouth, stopped, started, stopped, turned back to Fleur and said, "Forgive me. We're trying to start over and I was being petty. I'm sorry."
Fleur smiled. "It is forgiven."
They stood there awkwardly for a few moments. "Well," Daphne said brightly, "shall we get this party started? You brought the food, right?"
Ginny rolled her eyes. "Of course we brought the food." She pulled a massive basket from her bag and set it on the table.
"Excellent," Neville said. He moved to help her unload it. "I'm starving."
Daphne sighed. "When aren't you starving?"
"It's his fault." He pointed at Harry.
"If you were as fast as you were hungry you might beat me some day," Harry said.
"All ready told you why I'm slow," Neville retorted.
Ginny pulled a glorious chocolate cake from the basket. It was enough to silence everyone for a second. "It is good to know where the kitchens are," she said.
"I think I love you," Daphne said.
"Well, you are sleeping with me."
"Ginevra!"
Half an hour later Harry had his guitar out. He strummed a few notes to make sure it was in tune. "All right, who's first?"
"ME!" Daphne, Hermione, Luna and Ginny cried. Harry nodded at Ginny.
"Of course," the other girls huffed.
"Not fair at all," Luna complained. Ginny stuck her tongue out at her. "Brat," Luna said.
"Maybe, but I'm still first."
"Well hurry up and pick we only have another hour."
"Well?" Harry asked.
Ginny grinned. "Shook Me All Night Long."
"Yes!" Daphne exclaimed. Harry strummed the first chords. Daphne jumped to her feet, pulling Luna up as well. "Come on." She grabbed Fleur. "Everyone up!" Harry rolled into the song proper.
"She was a fast machine. She kept her motor clean.
She was the best damn woman that I ever seen.
She had the sightless eyes telling me no lies"
Everyone familiar with Harry's antics paused with him. He looked Fleur up and down.
"Knocking me out with those Beauxbatons' thighs."
Fleur gasped. Harry rolled back into the rest of the song. Daphne grabbed Fleur's hand. "He's a flirt," she said. "It's best to fight fire with fire."
Fleur glared at Harry. He winked. She narrowed her eyes. "I am veela," she warned.
Everyone paused, including Harry. "Maybe dial it down," he said, "just a notch." He went back into the lyrics.
"Wise decision," Fleur said. Ten minutes later, even dialed down, Harry had to admit. Fleur could move. "Zee pelvis. Zee stomach. Zee chest." She demonstrated. Ginny and the other girls mimicked her.
"Oh dear god," Neville said softly.
"Da," Viktor agreed.
"Zat is it," Fleur encouraged. "Zust, 'ow 'ou say?"
"Maybe no more belly dancing," Cedric croaked.
"Undulate?" Rowena asked.
"Oui! Undulate."
Harry's eyes were glued to Ginny as she practiced the movement Fleur was teaching them. Just then she locked eyes with him. Harry swallowed. She smiled wickedly. Harry shuddered. "Even the loch doesn't have that much cold water," he muttered.
"Word," Neville agreed.
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"Right then," David said, "thoughts?" The last match of the season was a week away and having to replace their second and third best slashers along with a beater and their keeper hadn't gone unnoticed by Durmstrang. Of course they still had Viktor, so while they weren't quite the juggernaut they'd been, they'd still handily won their matches against Beauxbatons and Ravenclaw.
"I think we may have them at beater," Tiffany said.
"I agree," Ginny offered. "Beating is as much about teamwork as slashing and those two just aren't on."
"I think we've got them at slasher too," Paden said. The others just looked at him. "No, hear me out. I know they've got Krum, but from what I've seen we've got them at the other three spots."
"True," Harry said. "Ginny can fly with their number two easily and you two can take their three and four."
"And we've got them at keeper," David said.
"I don't know about that," Tiffany hedged.
"It's at least a draw," Paden said.
"I say we man them up," Terrance said. "Me and Paden will help Potter out by concentrating the bludgers on Krum."
"And flying interference," David said.
"That too," Paden agreed.
"It probably won't be enough to stop him, but if we can keep up with our two, three and four we might be able to give them a match," Tiffany said.
"Who are you calling, two?" Ginny demanded indignantly.
"That would be you, Weasley," Harry taunted.
"Please," she sniffed, "I can outfly you on a wheelbarrow."
Tiffany groaned. "Here we go."
"Save it you two," David said. "Or I'll have you running stairs after we're done flying." Harry winked at Ginny. She stuck her tongue out at him but chose to cease and desist with any further flirting. She really didn't want to run stairs tonight. Especially as she was all caught up on everything and hoped to get Harry up in the clock tower for a bit more than flirting later that night."
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Harry slammed into Viktor. Ginny shot clear of them, snagged the opening quaffle toss, bent low on her broom and flashed for the Durmstrang hoops. She beat everyone, including the Durmstrang keeper and flew the quaffle through the hoops before punting it away. It wasn't sporting but it wasn't illegal either and fifteen extra seconds gone was fifteen seconds gone. Even with four replacement players taking to the sky for Durmstrang it was going to take a superhuman effort for Slytherin to notch a win. Bending every rule that could be bent wouldn't hurt either.
"And Slytherin dusts off an old move by Weasley to notch the first goal of the match," Lee announced. "This is the first time Durmstrang has trailed all year. We'll see if Slytherin can make it stick."
"Booker!" Harry bellowed. With Amber directly above him they angled for the centerline. Across the pitch, Ginny with David below, turned to meet them. Fifty yards from meeting, Harry launched a pass to David. He snagged it and immediately returned it to Amber. The four slashers whipped past each other, Amber at the top, Ginny beneath her, then Harry then David. The few inches separating them stood as testimony to four full years working together and would have done professional teams proud. Amber caught the quaffle and sent it blindly over her shoulder. It fell right into Ginny's hands. She pulled hard for the Durmstrang hoops. As he went past, Harry reached up and smacked the tail of the broom of Durmstrang slasher marking Ginny. He was turned just slightly towards the Slytherin hoops for a second before he could right himself. It was more than enough for Ginny to crash in on the keeper alone and slot the quaffle through the left hoop.
"And that's five goals for Weasley." She's in the Seek now and Slytherin are keeping pace… And Krum has snagged his first snitch of the match. Bit of bad luck there as we miss a chance to see if Weasley has anything for Krum in the Seek. Looks like Durmstrang are going to concede a snitch to Slytherin as Krum returns to the Chase. Score stands at 160–130, but Slytherin can take the lead if Weasley can be quick about the Snitch. And if we've learned anything over the last four years, she usually is. Of course she better be quick about it because Durmstrang are up a man in the chase right now and that man is none other than Viktor Krum."
"TIME!" David bellowed. An instant before Viktor snagged the snitch the whistle blew. Slytherin quickly gathered in their end.
"Nice," Harry said.
"Oh, he's pissed," Paden said. Across the pitch Viktor had angrily tossed his worthless snitch aside before flying down to the bench and grabbing a bottle of water. He chugged from it while glaring up at the Slytherin team.
"Don't give a damn if he is, it saved us a hundred and fifty points."
"So what do you want to run?" Ginny asked.
"You lot remember Island Veela?"
Harry grinned and focused on Tiffany. "You got the arm?" She glared at him.
"Play call is Copper Nimue," David said. The players all piled their hands together. David focused on Ginny. "Make it count."
"Ring it up," she answered.
"Score Slytherin on three."
"One," the team counted. "Two. Score Slytherin!"
The team floated into position. Tiffany took the quaffle while the slashers flashed for the zone line. Harry and Ginny broke left while Amber and David went right as they all pulled around to head back behind the Slytherin hoops. "Copper Nimue!" Amber screamed. Harry pulled up hard into the path of Ginny's marker just as she slammed on the brakes and whipped around for the Durmstrang end. Amber whipped the quaffle as far as she could. Ginny streaked after it. The Durmstrang keeper barreled out from his hoops, trying to intercept. Harry held his breath. It was going to be close. The crowd leapt to their feet as Ginny appeared to be winning the race. The keeper was going to be caught in no man's land. Just before she could snag it Viktor plummeted down from the Seek and punted the quaffle away. The crowd groaned.
"What a play by Krum!" Lee cried. "Stopping a sure seventh goal by Weasley that would have kept her on pace with him. He angles back up into the Seek and it looks like we'll have to wait a bit longer to see them match up in a battle for the snitch."
Harry blasted after the corkscrewing quaffle; outracing two of the three Durmstrang slashers for it. "STAY! STAY! STAY!" he shouted. He snagged the quaffle, sent his broom skidding and whipped a behind the back pass. "GINNY!" David and Amber crashed down on the last Durmstrang slasher, bracketing him so he couldn't track in on Ginny. Paden and Terrance launched the bludgers at Krum. He was forced to roll away. Ginny snagged the pass and whipped her signature behind the back shot through the center hoop. The crowd roared.
"That's seven for Weasley! Durmstrang continue to lead 460–330. Another snitch by Krum will blow things open, but Slytherin are fighting hard and for the first time in the match we'll see if Weasley has anything for Krum in the Seek. I don't know about you lot, but I've been waiting to see this all year.
Ginny warily edged closer to Viktor. Lee and the rest of the school may have been excited to see how she would fare against him, but she was a bit less eager. Even though he'd scored eight goals in a little more than two hours it seemed to her he was a bit bored. To be honest, she almost wondered how he couldn't be. The previous summer he'd played against the best players in the world when he'd led Bulgaria in the world cup. Good as she, Harry, Cedric and the Gryffindor girls were, she knew how good Viktor had to be. After all, she'd played against Charlie and he could still turn her or Harry inside out whenever it suited him. She was a step down and she knew it. Hell, she might be lucky to be only two steps down yet.
Just then Viktor plunged over into a dive. Despite not seeing the snitch herself she chased after. Down they went. He started a spin around her. Ginny grit her teeth and followed. She might not be able to stop him scoring, and unless he made a mistake she most likely couldn't beat him to the snitch, but she hadn't lost a feint war since making the team her first year and she wasn't about to now. But then, as they spun around, while his back was to it, out of the corner of her eye she saw a glint of gold in the distance. Without a thought she ripped her broom out of the corkscrewing dive and tore after it. She pressed down on her broom, trying to merge it into her body as she angled to squeeze just one more knot out of it.
"And she's got it! Weasley's beaten Krum to the snitch. Somehow, in the middle of Krum trying to Wronskie her, she sees the snitch half way across the pitch, pulls out of the feint and beats him to it. What a bit of flying by Weasley. Slytherin surge into the lead 460–490. Krum slams into Weasley's shoulder, but she ignores him and dives back into the Chase. Krum remains in the Seek and with his next catch worth two hundred points Durmstrang can retake the lead again, but one thing's for certain, he won't try and Wronskie her again."
"Ginny!" David bellowed and launched a full field pass at her.
"Sweet Merlin!" Lee announced. "Inside of five seconds from having just caught the snitch, Akers hits Weasley with a bomb of a pass and faster than I can even say it, she's slotted her eighth goal of the match. She's back in the Seek and say what you will about Slytherin's penchant to bend the rules but you can't argue they can play the game… Wow, just wow."
Unfortunately for Slytherin, that was as good as it got. Ginny's surprise snitch against Viktor only served to light the very fire under the Bulgarian phenom Ginny had thought missing. He was all business when she flew up into the Seek again and inside of fifteen minutes he'd beaten her to the snitch, dropped back into the Chase for his ninth goal of the match and then beaten her to the snitch again for his fifth catch of the golden ball before she managed her fourth. He'd continued to dominate the rest of the match, shutting her down completely while forcing Slytherin to go to Harry, David and Amber. Her teammates had responded, each getting a snitch themselves, but it hadn't been anywhere near enough. Viktor had even destroyed Harry in the Seek, with Harry not getting his snitch till after Viktor had caught his sixth and dropped back into the Chase in search of an eleventh goal. Like Amber and David's, Harry's snitch was uncontested. The final score came in at a staggering 1280 for Durmstrang against Slytherin's 890.
Durmstrang were champions of the Triwizard Quidditch Cup with a record of 5-0. Despite having lost to Slytherin, Beauxbatons had come second at 4-1 while Slytherin were third at 3-2. The Lions and Puffs were both 2-3 with Gryffindor winning the tiebreaker between them by virtue of a 510-500 win over the Badgers. Ravenclaw had come last at 0-5.
Harry came out of the showers to find David, still in all his gear, sitting in front of his locker. It hit Harry then that he'd never play in a match with him again. Tiffany also wouldn't ever suit up to play an official match again. They'd both been on the team with him from the beginning, David as a starter and Tiffany as a backup and then a starter after Marcus graduated. They'd both been forged under Marcus' hand. Everyone he'd ever played an official match with had cut their teeth with his first captain. Next year would be the first where that wasn't the case. Standing there watching David come to terms with the end of his quidditch career, for the first time since his name had come out of the Goblet, Harry felt like he wasn't ready to be done with this yet. David glanced up and saw him standing there.
"All right?" Harry asked.
David shrugged. "Hard to believe it's over."
Harry moved over and sat down beside him. "It's been something else, hasn't it?"
"Yeah," David agreed quietly. He was silent for a second or two. "Never thought I'd get a chance to play in a match with someone like Krum. Highlight of my life right there."
"You and me both," Harry answered.
They fell silent again. "Only one job left," David said.
"Sorry?"
"Captain for next year."
Harry nodded, thinking of the three older players on the team who would be returning next year. "Well, all three of them would make good captains."
"Yeah, they would," David agreed. "But I'm recommending you."
Startled, Harry turned to him. "What?"
"You heard me," David answered, holding his gaze.
"Why?"
"Cause you're Marcus."
Harry frowned. "Do me a favor."
"I won't recommend Weasley over you."
"Why not?"
"Cause it's about the team, not her and eventually playing for the Harpies."
"I'll turn it down."
"That's your decision. Mine is for the team." David stood and started pulling his gear off. "But before you do, ask yourself, do you really think she'll appreciate getting it that way."
"You think he's not coming?" Neville asked.
"Maybe he couldn't get away," Harry said.
"Probably having a party," Ginny said. "They did slaughter us."
"Wasn't in a very good mood for it," Harry muttered. Just then the door opened and closed. A second later Viktor shimmered into view. He stalked across the room and stopped in front of Ginny. She didn't back away as he towered over her.
A second later he looped an arm around her shoulder. "That vos good."
"It was luck."
"Da," he agreed. "But it vos still good." He focused on Harry. "You are both good. You as well, my friend."
"Not good enough," Cedric said.
Viktor grinned. "No."
"Seriously," Harry asked. "How did you get so good?"
Viktor shrugged. "Practice."
"We practice too, Mate," Cedric said.
"Practice more," Viktor countered.
"Enough quidditch," Daphne cried. "I am sick to death of quidditch and don't want to hear another word about it tonight."
"AMEN!" Hermione, Luna, Neville, Fleur and Rowena cried.
Twenty minutes later Hermione sat down next to Fleur. "You all right?" she asked in French.
Fleur glanced at her. "Yes."
Hermione followed her gaze to Harry and Ginny. Ginny's CD player was going and the two of them were gently swaying back and forth. "I used to be so jealous of her." Fleur turned to Hermione. "She took him away from me."
Fleur frowned. "But—"
"Not like that. Harry's my brother. We met before we started Hogwarts. I had never had a friend in my life before that day. From the time we met till we started school we never spent more than three days apart." She gave a little huff. "And that was only because we blew up the picnic table with the chemistry set I gave him and we were forbidden to see each other."
"It is like potions, yes?"
"Yes. Anyway, Harry knew about magic and he figured out I was a witch. We had all these plans and dreams for when we got to Hogwarts. Then, on the train, he met Ginny." She snapped her fingers. "Just that fast I was second. I didn't really understand it at first. He didn't either. Once I figured it out though, well, Ginny and I, we've had a rocky relationship."
"You would not know it to see you with each other."
"We've grown up. And I've learned that just like my time being the most important person in his life had come to an end, so had his time as the most important person in mine."
"You truly love her, don't you?"
"I do."
"You are lucky, to have such friends."
"I consider you a friend too, Fleur."
"But not like them."
"That doesn't mean you can't be."
"I see very little room for others between you. Even Cedric and Rowena are outside you."
"They are," Hermione agreed. "But that doesn't mean there isn't room for others. Harry especially seems to have room in his heart for others. Though I will say he does have a propensity to collecting sisters."
"And that does not bother, Ginny?"
"To make a long story short, it has in the past, but not since they figured things out."
Fleur studied them a second. "He collects sisters. Whores throw themselves at him. She does not bat an eye. I would kill to find a man like her."
"I thought you and Viktor were getting on well?"
"It is good for now."
"For now?"
"There is only one man here Viktor considers to be a worthy rival. The less Harry hates me, the more Viktor becomes jealous of him. We will not survive outside of this little world."
"I–I'm sorry."
Fleur shrugged. "It is what it is… I sometimes wonder though, is it her, or is it him?"
"What do you mean?"
"Is it something in her that allows her to trust him, or is it something in him that allows her to trust him?"
Hermione considered. "Maybe it's both of them."
"Perhaps," Fleur agreed. She focused on Hermione. "Your French is very good by the way. Much better than my English."
Hermione blushed. "Thank you. My mother is French so I grew up with it. And you're English is quite good. You've improved dramatically since the year started."
Fleur smiled. "Thank you." She glanced up and noticed Luna eyeing them. "I think, perhaps, you should go spend some time with your girlfriend."
Hermione looked up. Luna was sitting on a couch next to Viktor, glaring icy daggers at Fleur. She sighed and stood. "Excuse me."
"Of course."
Hermione walked over to the couch where Luna was sitting with Viktor. "Trade?"
Viktor stood. "Da."
Hermione sat down beside Luna. "So how long are you going to be mad at me?"
"I'm not mad."
"Jealous then."
"I wasn't the one drooling over her."
"I wasn't drooling over her."
"You did." Luna crossed her arms angrily.
Hermione scowled at her. "This conversation is making me far more receptive to Rowena's assertion Fleur is too pretty for anyone to ever truly be her friend."
"Excuse me?"
"You're jealous. Admittedly, I did drool over her. But not anymore. And even if I was, she is not interested. She is as straight as I am lesbian. If you want to be angry with me, fine. But at least admit you are being an utter twit to her."
Luna crossed her legs and bounced the upper one irritatedly. It was a sure sign she knew she was losing the argument. "What were you talking about?"
Hermione waited half a second before answering. "Harry and Ginny and how jealous she was that Ginny trusted Harry implicitly." Hermione arched a brow when Luna just stared back at her.
Luna sagged. "I'm sorry."
Hermione pulled Luna into her side. "Thank you," she said.
Luna cuddled in next to her. "I'm trying," she whispered. "I just… it's like she's a female version of Ronald."
Hermione froze. "That," she said slowly, "was a horrible visual, Love."
Luna snickered. "Sorry."
"And not to be a pain, but he's been more than bearable this year."
"I can only get over the visceral reaction to strangle one person at a time, Hermione. Don't ask me for more than that."
Hermione laughed softly. "All right, Love."
Author's notes:
And again, we've got Shook Me All Night Long, by AC/DC
Bet none of you saw them becoming friendly with Fleur.
Question; I'm toying with the idea of Ginny eventually coming to find she's a parslemouth. And giving her a snake familiar. Thoughts?