Chapter 19: The Hebridean Black

"Matt! Shosh!" Donnie shouted as he spotted them waiting near the grand staircase of the entryway, his freckled face lighting up. He ran up to them, hugging them both at the same time. "Did you get my cards?"

"Of course," Matt said.

"That's good, I was a bit concerned. They say there's been some interruptions in the owl post lately."

"Interruptions? I hadn't heard anything, did you?" Matt asked Shoshanna.

"It wasn't in the Prophet, but then, that doesn't mean a lot," Shoshanna finished with a sour expression.

"Probably just a rumor. Tell your mum thanks for the socks." Donnie lifted up his robe to show a black and white badger cavorting on a black field with a background of gold, a black and gold scarf tied around its neck. It was probably the happiest, most active badger Matt had ever seen.

"Hey Boot!" a familiar voice called from across the room. Matt looked up to see Liam's tall form towering over most of the other students, his hand raised in greeting, a wide smile across his face. Liam slid through the mass of moving students with the grace of a seasoned chaser. He put an arm around Matt's shoulder. "Did you see? I won the family cup."

"Yeah, I saw. Good show."

"What is that? Like you were the best of the McLaggen's? As I recall that's not much of an honor," a sarcastic voice said from the stair rail. Ceelee was sitting on the thick, stone volute of the main staircase.

"Stuff it, Carrow." He turned Matt away from her. "So, are you going to the Knight's Club meeting on Friday? I won't take no for an answer."

"If you won't take no for an answer, then why are you asking me?"

"Common courtesy." He flashed a toothy white smile.

"Hey, what are you doing with my keeper?" Declan's arm wrapped around Matt's shoulders from the opposite side, pulling him away from Liam. "Trying to get him to spill his new plays. Well, it won't work." He turned to Matt. "You did finish the new plays, right?" Matt nodded. "Like I said, it won't work. Matt's a loyal Hufflepuff through and through. Isn't that right?" Matt nodded, feeling both literally and figuratively swept away. "Now come on, we need to get you changed for practice."

Matt found his voice, "What? Now?"

"Can you think of a better time?"

"There's a foot of snow on the field!"

"Good thing we won't be on it. Come on now and hurry up, the others changed on the train." Sure enough Matt could see Polly, Sean, Linnea, and the others already in their full kits holding their brooms and looking somewhat worse for the wear, except for Tip who appeared eager to go after the snitch after a long drought. "Big game with Slytherin. Don't want to waste a minute." Declan continued talking happily as Matt trudged along beside him to the Common Room, his hopes of a pork pie lunch fading quickly behind.

They didn't return to the common room until just before supper. Declan had them running drill after drill, taking full advantage of the fact no other team was dedicated enough (in his words, Matt would have said mad enough) to practice in such terrible weather. Matt's trousers, wet to the knees from walking in the snow, had frozen in position as he had gripped the pole. More than once they had caused him to slide. He was glad to peel them off his legs in the dorm room.

"My fingers are like icicles," he moaned as he fought with his snow-encrusted socks.

"That was quite a catch Polly made," Tip said, pulling off his sweater and shirt, revealing his scrawny chest and shoulders, somehow making him look even smaller, if that possible. He shook his short hair, spiked with ice from frozen sweat.

"Don't remind me." Matt threw a wide striped black and yellow rugby sweater at Tip, who roughly pulled it over his head.

"Caught you right by the ankle." Matt shot Tip a withering look. "What? You were still a good twenty feet from the ground."

During practice the unthinkable had finally happened. When Matt went in for a block his fingers, little blocks of frozen sausages that they were, despite his gloves, slipped as he grasped the hoop and he went sailing through and beyond into freefall. Polly, who had made the attempt on goal saw it and caught him. He had been lucky. If it had been Linnea... well hopefully she would have gotten a cushioning charm cast before he hit. He doubted even a foot of snow could soften that frozen pitch much.

"I'm starting to see why they only allow magical people to play, not squibs," he grumbled, pulling on his own matching black and yellow rugby sweater, a gift from Polly's mum for each member of the team.

"Oh come off it. Everyone's fallen loads of times. I mean, didn't you see me go into the upper stands?" It had been a spectacular crash, to be sure. Tip had clearly meant to change direction in the middle of a hairpin turn, but between the momentum and his own frozen broom he had slid off and was sent barreling through the canvas and boards of the stand, rolling down the stairs to the second landing while his broom continued up and then back down into Declan's waiting hand. How he had managed to somehow pop up largely unscathed was something of a miracle, and yet one they had come to expect from the pint-sized seeker. "Snitches or stitches. Am I right?"

Matt allowed a smile. "Yeah, I guess so."

"Of course I am. Now come on, lets get supper. I could eat a horse."

They arrived at the great hall and set themselves beside their team. McGonagal stood to address the students, beside her, the chair that would normally belong to Prof. Jones was noticeably vacant. "Before we begin there have been some changes made to the Quidditch schedule this year." Chatter broke out at the tables. "Quiet please. Our first match of the new year will be Ravenclaw against Gryffindor. Our second match will be Hufflepuff against Slytherin. This will be followed by Ravenclaw verses Slytherin, ending the term with Hufflepuff against Gryffindor. This schedule change was approved by all the team captains to allow Mr. Matsumoto to concentrate on his NEWTS. Are there any questions? If not-"

"I have a question!" Josiah Smith shouted.

The Headmistress sighed. "Yes, Mr. Smith?"

"I want to know why we are allowing an ineligible player to continue to participate in playing the sport. I have collected over one hundred signatures saying that Matthew Boot should be removed from competition." Josiah handed a long sheet of parchment over to Prof. McGonagal.

"Oh come off it, Smith!" Declan shouted, he was seconded by the rest of the team. "You're just sore he beat you at tryouts."

"Quiet down, Mr. O'Connor. Let us hear what Mr. Smith has to say. On what grounds do you make your complaint?"

Josiah Smith puffed himself up. "On the grounds that his play violates the rule against sticking any part of your body through the hoop to block. His entire defense is based on breaking that rule. This makes him ineligible to play both here and in the official leagues. Not only that, by allowing him to continue to play, it is preventing other potential professional Quidditch players from being scouted."

"Players like you?" Polly mocked.

"Miss MacHeath, that is enough!" McGonagal said sharply. Polly shut her mouth and sat back down. "Now then, Mr. Smith has raised an important concern, and I see much of Slytherin house agrees with him. Though notably, not many from the other houses. Certainly, it is true that Mr. Boot has violated the rule and cannot be scouted for a professional team." Matt felt his stomach sink. "As a devoted follower of the sport, I cannot say this escaped my notice. When Mr. O'Connor first brought his interest in allowing Mr. Boot to play on his team, I admit it was one of my first concerns. So, in the interest of fair play, I gathered the team captains together to ask if they would permit this change of the rules. Each captain agreed that they would allow it. Some, I believe, thought it might be to their advantage." She looked pointedly at Reg Jenkins. "So far as preventing anyone from being scouted for the official leagues, well, I must say, if a player could not beat Mr. Boot at the tryout, it is highly unlikely the National Quidditch League would be interested in recruiting them."

Calls of "oooo" filled the hall. Josiah stood, open mouthed, deflated.

McGonagal turned to sit and noticed Smith still standing there. "Will there be anything else, Mr. Smith?" Josiah shook his head. "Then I suggest you sit down."

Classes resumed and the weeks before Ravenclaw went against Gryffindor passed in what seemed the blink of an eye to the students. Matt and Tip spent so much of their time practicing there was barely enough time for homework, let alone the Knights Club. On a particularly icy evening, Declan decided they should hold practice in the corridors, a move that cost Hufflepuff twenty points but the mayhem caused earned him the everlasting regard of Peeves. Particularly as he encouraged Peeves to join in. Matt found himself dodging not only bludgers and loose stone, but ink, chalk, and dusty old tomes. Those he tried to catch. He even kept a few, including a three hundred year old biography of Merlin that no one seemed to know the origin of.

The club they had formed over the winter seemed to fall by the wayside as well with three of its members obliged to their respective Quidditch teams and Phichit seeming to have suddenly disappeared. Izzy said she heard he was sneaking off to meet his girlfriend who belonged to another house, but she thought it was Moaning Myrtle. She heard it was someone who had visited him in the hospital wing. Which was just as well, because he barely had time to see Donny and Shoshanna at meals, let alone go on adventures.

"We figure our only hope is a quick game and the less practice time Ravenclaw has the better off we'll will be." Liam explained as they walked down the corridor from lunch, heading to their respective classes. "They're like Ireland. Give them time and they'll beat you by scoring whether or not you get the snitch. Our only chance it that over the holidays they might have lost some of their rhythm. But it won't be long before they get it back. So this is our best chance. Creevey's been practicing all holiday. He even came up to play me for a week. You would have thought it was Christmas when McGonagal called him, Jenkins, and O'Connor to her office about the change."

The day of the match was bright, with barely a cloud in the sky and a chill so painful many of the students were unrecognizable under layers of woolen knits. Aloysius Selwyn, in an attempt to keep warm, managed to light a bench on the Slytherin side on fire, which Ceelee had extinguished before Slughorn even recognized the situation. Donny, always the one for creature comforts, had perfected a miniature fireplace which puffed smoke pleasantly between them. Shoshanna had animated a small figurine to put small sticks from a pile into the tiny fire. The Ravenclaws took the field in formation with Taro at the head, passing through a sparkling lights shaped like a golden eagle to ooo's and awe's from the stands. But Matt could see it was just as Liam had said, they were not as together as usual. There was a bit of a drag in their movements, the timing was slightly off between them. It was barely noticeable, but still there.

"And it's McLaggen with the quaffle at the toss. He's taking it straight to the goal... and it's good! Through the left post! Hawkins didn't even see it coming." Sean Brady's voice boomed over the stadium. "But Munhall's not about to let that go unanswered. Munhall to Masumoto, Matsumoto to Munhall. And where did Kineely-McConville come from! Goal by Bridget Kineely-McConville!"

Ravenclaw soon had answered McLaggen's offense with three goals. The loss of Dorsett was clearly felt. Jerry was not nearly as fast or clever. "Oooh! That's gotta hurt! And Card has taken a bludger to the arm. Looks like Kineely-McConville was ready for the drop. She takes it to the goal and... score by Kineely-McConville. That's forty to ten. Forty to twenty, goal by Byron Wycliffe. And it looks like Matsumoto has been busy over the break. Matsumoto to Munhall, Munhall to Kineely-McConville, Kineely-McConville back to Munhall." Tailed closely by McLaggen and Wycliffe the Ravenclaw chasers broke out a new move that seemed to focus on the front most person releasing the ball to be caught by one of the chasers flying behind, who flew to the front and then did the same. Suddenly there was a wobble from Jill Munhall. Matt could tell she had not found Bridget's slipstream properly. The end of her broom was caught by the drag. "Wait, something's wrong with Munhall. She's lost control of her broom! She's hit Matsumoto! She's spinning out!" Wycliffe and McLaggen flew out of the way to avoid her as she spun by. Everyone watched in horror. Sean stood, banging his hands on the table loudly enough for the amplification spell to pick up. "Bloody hell! She's going to crash!" Jill went helicoptering down like a maple leaf as the audience stood.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" There was a beam of light from Madam Hooch's wand and Jill froze where she was, just a meter from the ground. Madam Hooch flew down to check on her. Jill took a walk around, swinging her arms and hopped back on the broom, rejoining her team. In that time Bridget and Taro had manage two more goals by themselves, apparently having more faith in Madam Hooch to save their teammate than the Gryffindor team. Dennis Creevey flew up to Munhall as she mounted her broom, asked her something, and then, apparently, satisfied by the answer flew off. She rejoined Taro and Bridget, each nodding at each other before breaking into another formation. But this one was not as difficult. They were being conservative. Taro knew they were missing a step they could not overcome. It didn't matter, Gryffindor was still well outmatched. Even when Boots Luna slammed a bludger squarely at Taro, Bridget only threw him the quaffle which he used to block the spiky ball before putting it through the center hoop.

"That was a good block by Matsumoto. He must have ice water in his veins. Don't worry, Regina, no one could have blocked that goal, not even Boot," Sean said. Matt wasn't sure whether to be offended or flattered by the comment. "That's one hundred to thirty, not looking good for Gryffindor. Wait a moment, what's that? I think... yes! Creevey's seen the snitch. Haverford's after him, but I don't think he's actually spotted it. Creevey's got it in his sights and... He's flying straight for us! Duck professor!" Sean and the headmistress dove under the announcer's desk as Dennis swooped down to where Sean's head had been and, stretching out his hand, he caught a small golden light that had been flickering by Sean's left ear. Sean popped up looking quite mussed, he grabbed the amplification wand and spoke excitedly, "And team captain Dennis Creevey has caught the snitch! Gryffindor wins one hundred eighty to one hundred! This has been Sean Brady, signing out."

February melted into March, and on the first fine day of the last week of February, Hagrid greeted the class at the castle door. "Ah've gotta special guest fer you taday. But ah've got ta warn ya, he's brought a very sensitive beast with him, so you'll have ta follow be close like and be very quiet."

The Hufflepuff and Slytherin third years all looked at each other with concern. "I don't like the sound of that," Ceelee whispered to Matt. Matt nodded in agreement.

The trudged over the snow covered grounds away from Hagrid's hut. "Does it feel warmer to you?" Matt asked Ceelee.

"Yeah," Ceelee said and then she pointed up, "and I think I know why." There, in front of them, whipping out above the trees, was a great spiked tail covered in jet-black scales. A pair of bat-like wings spread into the sky as an earsplitting shriek pieced the air. The student's ducked down, covering their ears.

"Sounds like it's feedin' time," Hagrid said with a grin.

As they approached the snowless clearing, a stocky young man with bright red hair and a face full of freckles ran out from the woods. "Oh good, Hagrid, you're just in time."

"How is our boy?" Hagrid said with the same tone one might use talking about a puppy.

"He's hungry. Any longer and I think he might've taken a nip out of me." The young man grinned.

"Students," Hagrid swept a large arm over the man, "this is Charlie Weasley. He used ta be one of my top students back in the day. Now he's one of tha foremost experts on dragons in the world. He sent me a letter sayin' he was goin' ta be comin' through the area, an ah managed ta persuade him tah stop by."

"Charlie Weasley," he heard two girls whisper in awe. He turned and stared at Ceelee who was completely transfixed by the magizoologist, so much so that her mouth hung slightly open. Midge Owens was to be expected, there wasn't a magizoologist in the world she didn't know of and idolize, but Ceelee, was a complete shock.

"Well, he didn't have to pull my leg too hard," Charlie said, flashing a toothy grin. "I was transporting this little guy back home to the Hebrides for Angus MacFusty. Seems some people in the Fens thought he'd make a good pet." The monster shrieked again, whipping his tail about, sending branches flying. Little? Matt wondered. Just how big would this thing get? "Anyway, just follow me. Don't be afraid, he won't try to eat you, he prefers deer and rabbits." They followed Charlie around a stand of trees into a clearing. Matt could tell from the singed branches and sliced tree trucks, not all of the trees were cleared by Hagrid.

In the clearing was a massive black dragon, almost ten meters long by Matt's guess. He turned his purple eyes to Charlie and let out a shriek, spreading his massive bat wings so that Matt could see the veins in the webbing. His arrow-tipped tail thrashed into the trees, sending sliced trunks flying. The students let out a collective gasp. For most of them, including Matt, this was the first live dragon they had ever seen and the heavy chains around his legs did little to lesson the effect.

"Can anyone tell me what kind of dragon this is?" Charlie asked. A number of hands shot up. "If you get it right, I'll let you help me give him a snack." A few hands went down, including Debbie's. Matt looked at her quizzically.

"What? I don't want to be dragon food," she said. Tip's arm shot up eagerly. Matt knew he didn't know the answer.

"Ooo! Ooo!" Midge grunted, stretching her arm until it risked going out of the socket as Charlie pointed at the students, running his finger back and forth slowly as he surveyed the crowd.

"Hmmm... You." He pointed to Ceelee. "Slytherin. I guess everyone knows I'm a Gryffindor. Don't want to be seen as picking favorites, you know." He winked at the others. A few students chuckled, though Midge looked dispondent. "I kid, of course. It's because yellow is closer to the color of their food and I don't want to lose a student here. Madam Pomfrey would never forgive me." Matt suddenly felt better about not being called on. "Alright, what is your name?"

"Ceelee," she stepped forward proudly.

"Carrow..." Midge whispered loudly.

Charlie's eyes widened a bit, but he quickly recovered. "Ceelee Carrow? Is that right?"

"Yes," she said, shamefacedly.

He flashed her a dashing smile. "Well, Ceelee Carrow, what kind of dragon do we have here?"

She stared at him with a measure of shock. She had clearly expected to be sent back once he knew her name. "Sir? It's a Hebridean Black, sir."

"Sir?" he gave an exaggerated frown. "Not sure I like the sound of that. Call me Charlie." He turned to the class. Matt thought he saw a faint blush on Ceelee's cheeks. "She's right, he is a Hebridean Black. Hebridean Blacks are native to the Hebridean part of Scotland. They can grow to be up to 30 feet long. You'll notice he has purple eyes. Does anyone here know what advantages purple eyes might provide?"

No one raised their hand.

"No? Well, the purple shading of the eye is ideal for foggy or snowy conditions, which, if you've ever been to the Hebrides you know is pretty much most of the year. It absorbs blue an green light so it causes anything that's not blue and green, like its prey, to pop out of its surroundings. Speaking of which." he placed a cap over his bright orange hair. "You can see that between his spikes, his jagged scales, and his black color, to many animals he could easily be mistaken for a pile of rocks. This particular guy is named Fergus. Now most Hebridean Blacks are very aggressive and require a large territory of one hundred square miles each but Fergus here is a bit tame. His mother was the victim of poachers so he's been hand raised by Angus, himself. That's probably why those tourists were able to lure him close enough to stun him. Now come over here Ceelee." He beckoned Ceelee over to his side. "That's an unusual name, Ceelee. What does it mean?"

"It's short for Celestina," she muttered so softly Matt could barely hear.

"Celestina? That's the name of my mum's favorite singer. Though you're probably to young to have heard of Celestina Warbeck. Toil & Trouble is the big one now, right? Or is it still the Weird Sisters?"

"The Weird Sisters, mostly. But I prefer Witch Hazel."

"Witch Hazel? You're a girl after my own heart. Seeker gloves too. Do you play?"

"Yes, I'm the seeker for Slytherin."

"Are you now? I can see why, small, light, good eye I'm guessing. A lot like my sister, Ginny." Ceelee beamed. Charlie strolled over to a wooden cart and began rummaging in it. "You know I played seeker when I was at Hogwarts. Wasn't bad if I do say so myself. Now then, this is Fergus's favorite snack." He produced a limp rabbit. "Put your hood up. Don't need him confusing your hair with the rabbit. I'm going to hand it to you and get his attention, then you toss it to him. Ready?" Ceelee nodded. "Oi Fergus! Come on and look at me ya overgrown puppy. We brought you a snack." Matt saw nothing puppy-like in the dragon before him as it turned its horned head toward Ceelee, it's serpentine eyes focused on her, the inner eyelids flickering. Charlie held Ceelee's shoulders. "No toss it as high as you can," he said into her ear.

She threw the rabbit carcass in the air flipping end over end. Fergus drew back and snapped it out of the air, turning up his muzzle he swallowed. "Very good, Celestina, now go join your friends." Ceelee marched back to the group with her face pointed down, but Matt could see she was red all the way to her ears.

That evening, at supper, Matt saw Ceelee waiting at the main door. He was about to go over and speak to her when the door opened and Charlie Weasley came in. She snapped to attention as if she had been waiting for him. Matt hid behind the stone pillar beside the staircase. Charlie noticed her waiting. "Oh, hello. Celestina, wasn't it?"

"Yes. I umm... I had a question for you?"

"Sure, there's still some time before supper, what's on your mind?"

"Do you really think I'm like Ginny Weasley?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Just tell me." Her eyes gleamed hopefully.

Something seemed to occur to Charlie. He smiled. "Oh. You're one of Ginny's Girls, aren't you?"

Ceelee looked around and, seeing the area clear, she reached into her robe pocket and pulled out her beaten and dogeared Ginny Weasley card, red to her ears again. "Yes."

"Impressive," he said, taking the card and looking it over. "I'd wager you're one of the real ones too, not one of those who only likes her because she's dating Harry."

"Of course I am. She's one of the most versatile players in the league! And did you see that goal she scored against the Chudley Cannons - I mean I know it's not hard to score on them, but it was still perfect!"

"One handed throw at full speed while banking hard left, yeah, I did. She'll be happy to know she has a true fan. Would you like me to ask her to sign this for you?"

Ceelee grabbed for the card. "No! Please don't tell her!"

Charlie's visage grew concerned. He knelt slightly so he was at her eye level. "Now why not?"

"You know... because... because of who I am."

"She won't care about that."

"Still... please don't."

He straightened up. "You don't believe me do you? Well, I know who you are and I don't care. It's just a name. It not who you are."

She still looked unconvinced. "You're just saying that because you have to. Why are you being so nice to me?"

"Because I know you're a good person. You don't get this far in my line of work if you can't tell the things that want to hurt you from the things that don't. Trust me, Ginny would be happy to sign it." Ceelee still looked dubious. "Fine, I'll give it back for now." He looked her up and down. "Well, I can't say for sure since I haven't seen you play, but you're a bit smaller than her, a bit lighter than when she made the team. Ideal build for a seeker."

"Would you?"

"Would I what?"

"Come to see me play?"

"Didn't you just have a game?"

"No, they switched the schedule. Our game is this weekend."

"Hmmm..." He frowned. "That cuts things pretty close. I'll tell you what, if I can get things squared away with Angus in time, I'll try to swing back around to see the match before I head back to Romania."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Heck, if you have some time, I'll even show you a few of my old moves - I'll show you where Ginny learned it from. I'm free this evening until eight if you'd like to get some practice in after supper."

"We have practice after supper..." She looked crestfallen, before perking up. "But I'm sure I can come. I'll just skeev off." She held up a puking pastille.

"Ah, one of my brothers' finest creations," he said wistfully. "Meet me at Hagrid's hut at six thirty. I'll tell him to expect us."

"I will! And thanks again."

"No need to thank me, us seekers have to stick together. Now come on, let's get some food." He opened the door to the great hall and she veritably skipped through it. Matt followed behind.

The second the other students saw Charlie they were all over him with questions, not a few of them being about his younger brother Ron and Harry Potter. Midge Owens shoved a book in his face and asked him to sign it. Ceelee walked right by to her place at the Slytherin table. Matt contemplated whether or not to tell Declan what he had seen. If she was getting special coaching from Charlie Weasley, a seeker who had hoisted the Quidditch Cup, that would probably be something that would be important to tell his captain before the game. But then they might try to interrupt them, and he had never seen Ceelee so happy. This was probably the closest she would ever get to Ginny Weasley, he had to let her. He could always tell Declan tomorrow.

The next morning Charlie Weasley was again mobbed by an even larger group. It seemed his popularity had grown overnight in the dorms and common rooms of the four houses. Matt watched Ceelee walk in. Charlie made certain to wave to her as she walked by. She pretended not to notice but her face went red to the ears again.

That evening, Matt and McLaggen were walking through the corridor. "So tell me this week you're finally coming to the Knight's Club," Liam said.

"Well, Declan's giving us Friday night off, doesn't want to wear us out before we have to play. Yeah, I think I can."

"And then Oliver Wood just dropped straight down six feet and flew right under him!" Charlie's voice echoed through the corridor. "He didn't even realize what had happened until Wood scored the goal."

Ceelee laughed. "I wish I could've seen the look on his face. We were at practice once and Reg..." The pair appeared walking down the corridor that intersected Matt and Liam's, talking animatedly.

As they past right in front of the boys, Matt looked back to Liam and was surprised to see the dark look on his face. "It's bloody disgusting, that's what it is," Liam said.

"What is?"

"He's got to know who she is. Who her parents are. How can he even stand to look at her? The Death Eaters killed his brother. Almost killed his whole family. And here he is letting her hang all over him. Giving her special attention. Maybe she slipped him a love potion or something."

"Hang all over him? They aren't even touching. I'm pretty sure they're just friends," Matt said. Who knows what would happen if he told Liam about the meeting in the main room he witnessed.

"Which is all the worse. How can he be friends with someone who's parents helped kill his brother?"

"We can't judge her by her parents." How much worse would it be if he knew her father might be Rodolphus Lestrange? Matt silently wondered.

"Her sisters where for You Know Who too. They helped their parents and bullied us first years mercilessly. Do you really think the apple falls that far from the tree? She's their leader. He's probably just trying to be nice. But he shouldn't be. No one should be. Anyway, do you mind if I skeeve off our game tonight? I want to have a go at my speech for the meeting."

Wednesday morning came and Charlie Weasley was gone before breakfast, though he remained all Ceelee could talk about for the next few days. Liam's temper grew all the more surly and his remarks more pointed against her. But for once she didn't rise to the occasion. His snide remarks and open attacks seemed to have no effect on her, which only increased his ire. He continued to claim it was because of who she was, but Matt began to wonder if he might be jealous he wasn't getting her attention anymore.

"He what?!" Declan shouted so loudly half the students in the Great Hall turned to look at him. "Why didn't you tell me this sooner? We might have been able to plan some sort of defense." He grabbed his head turning around in a circle. "Oh this is a disaster!" he moaned, plopping down to stare dejectedly at his half eaten lunch.

"Wot's a disaster?" Polly asked as she sat down, piling baked beans onto a piece of bread.

"Why do you insist on having breakfast food for lunch?" Sean asked.

"Because ah like it," she answered taking a bite.

"Why do the house elves even make beans for lunch?"

"Because I asked them to. Now then, wot's a disaster?"

"Charlie Weasley gave Carrow seeker lessons."

Her eyes grew wide, the beans dripped off her toast onto her plate. "No. He didn't. You've gotta be having a go at me."

"I wish I was. Matt saw it himself."

"I saw him offer it, I didn't actually see them practice or anything."

"You should've followed them, spied on them or something," Polly said.

"I had homework."

"Quidditch is more important than homework!"

"What's more important than homework?" Donnie said, seating himself next to Matt. Shoshanna sat across from him.

"Nothing, if ya ask this one," Polly said, thumbing toward Matt.

"Look, I'm sorry. I didn't think it was that big an issue. I mean seekers... well it's more about seeing the snitch first anyway."

Polly folded her arms across her chest. "I don't want to talk about it anymore. Rest assured you'll pay for it tonight. What do ya think, Declan? Twenty-five laps around the pitch?"

"Oh, at least fifty. With a quaffle chasing."

"Do you guys have practice this Friday?" Shoshanna asked.

"Nah," Declan said. "Gotta rest before the game."

"Matt, I was thinking we might take a look at that puzzle again," she suggested. As far as anyone besides their club knew it was still unfinished and that was how they intended to keep it for now as they tried to glean more on its possible origins. Shoshanna thought that it might pre-date the founders, given that it allowed easy access to Peverell's Laboratory. Matt felt it was possible, but given the door, that the laboratory had been discovered by the founders when they created the ballroom. He posited that it would have been no challenge for Ignotus to simply have used a boat, and such a measure would have provided greater security for the room.

Donald took a bite of a chip, "Well, if you want to kill an evening accomplishing nothing, that's up to you."

Shoshanna stuck her tongue out at him, "Better than some boy's only "man" club."

"Do that again and I'll hex it green."

Polly had had enough, "Look, please spare us all and just snog already!"

Donald and Shoshanna instantly turned bright red, avoiding eye contact. Matt noticed a number of their tablemates were nodding in agreement.

"She... she likes... someone else..." Donald managed to stammer.

Polly laughed. "What? You mean Dennis Creevey? Oh don't look so surprised, Shoshanna, everyone knows. Didn't you hear? He and Boots Luna starting going out after the last match. It sure took them long enough, if you ask me. So there you are, Macmillan, no excuses."

Donald was now a brilliant red from the tips of his ears to where his neck disappeared into his collar. "She's my best mate!"

Polly, who was glad to be able to vent her frustrations on someone eyed him saucily, "Play your cards right, MacMillan, and that could mean something entirely different."

Donald's fist flew to cover his mouth. Matt hadn't known it was possible for Donald to go so red, but he had surpassed rosy quite some time back and was now the shade of an overripe tomato. "I... I have to go..." He hurried off leaving a plate full of half eaten food.

"I have to go as well," Shoshanna said. She was almost the same shade as Donald.

"Oh, but you just sat down," Polly taunted

"I... I just remembered something I had to do." She hurried off as well.

"Yeah, go snog Macmillan," Polly whispered in a teasing tone.

"That was mean," Matt scolded.

"I'd call it heroic," Sean interjected. "You have no idea what we've suffered these past years."

"Four years of will they or won't they might be fine for television, but in real life it's downright intolerable," Adrian added.

"You see, it had to be done, " Polly said, triumphantly. "It was for the greater good."

Matthew shook his head and continued with his meal.

It was half an hour later he ran into Shoshanna in a rarely used corridor she had lost most of the flush, in fact, she was quite pale but for two high rosy spots on her cheeks and appeared a bit distracted.

"Oh. Hello, Matty." she said, rather louder than was necessary considering he was right next to her.

"Hey, sorry about Polly. I hope she didn't cause you any trouble."

"No. Not at all." She glanced back at a classroom door. "No. Donnie and I had a long talk, and it was ok."

"Are we still on for tonight?"

"Oh... for tonight? Yes. I'll be there after dinner. Well, don't want to be late for class." She started off down the corridor.

"Shoshanna!" a voice called from the empty classroom, the door swung open revealing a slightly disheveled Donald Macmillan holding a book of runes. "You forgot your- Hey Matt." Donald turned bright red again, a sheepish grin across his face.

"Thank you, Donnie," Shoshanna said tersely, snatching her book from his hands and quickly walking down the remainder of the corridor.

Matthew watched as she turned the corner and then turned to Donald, brow raised.

Donald burst into nervous laughter. "You know, I honestly never knew."

"So then... you two are...?"

"I guess so. Where are you heading?"

"Potions."

"I'll walk with you a bit, it's on my way to Divination." He laughed again. "She's going to be impossible, though. Gave me a whole list of things I'll have to do in order to be her boyfriend."

"That doesn't really surprise me, knowing her."

"She wants me to stop going to the Knight's Club. Says it's sexist and McLaggen's a pratt. Well, she didn't use those words exactly..."

"Are you going to?"

"I don't know. Maybe you could come with me. She might listen to you if you say it's ok. I mean, you and McLaggen are mates now, right? So he can't be that much of a pratt."

"I guess."

"What do you mean, you guess? You play him in chess almost every day of the week."

"Yeah, but not these past few days."

"Because of Quidditch practice. I mean you've either been on the pitch or in the library. Hardly any of us has seen you. I'm surprised you have time to work on that stupid puzzle." Donald stopped, "Well this is my turn." He placed a hand on Matthew's shoulder, "Just come with me to the next meeting. Please?"

"Fine."

"Thank you, thank you, thank you. I'll see you at supper. Good luck in potions." Donald waved as he walked away.

Matthew certainly could have used some luck in potions. His nerves were so on edge that he was unable to concentrate on the recipe resulting in an exploding brew that singed the tips of Prof. Slughorn's walrus mustache.