A/N: Thank you to everyone that reviewed, please keep doing so as you are the guys that drive this story. Sorry that it has taken me so long to update this story but Real Life has been as hectic as it can be, mainly due to my university exams, but anyway madness and mayhem endue in this chapter. There is Quidditch, Malfoy, romance an revelations
Story:
It was the day before the first Quidditch match of the season, Gryffindor vs. Slytherin, perhaps the most anticipated match in school year, not only was it the first match of the season it was the first match of the season between Gryffindor and Slytherin, the two greatest rivals at Hogwarts, with a rivalry that went back for more than a thousand years.
Hermione, Rags, Ginny and Harry were sitting in the Great Hall having breakfast the morning before the big match, the scene oddly reminiscent from their first year, except in this scene the character of Harry was being played by a slightly taller, broader, more muscled Norwegian who was absolutely terrified that he was going to embarrass his house in front of the entire school. He was sitting picking at his cereal before he and Hermione made their way to Ancient Runes because, like Harry in his first year, he had people to get him to eat.
"Rags, you really have to eat something, and don't be so worried the game isn't until tomorrow, you have a whole day to think about what you're going to do" after this particular statement, Ginny was finding it hard to keep a straight face at the glare that Rags was sending in her direction. Harry had decided that he wasn't going to get involved unless Rags was in this condition tomorrow before the match, so he, wisely, left it to Hermione to deal with, in other words cheer Rags up and get him eating something.
Hermione was torn, having never been a huge fan of Quidditch, except when Harry, and now Rags, was playing, she was alternating between finding the situation hilarious, and upsetting Rags, or feeling sympathy for him because he had no idea was playing an actual team based sport was like.
"Rags worrying about things is not going to change the fact that they are going to happen, and worrying about things generally make them worse, so please, for me, relax a little bit and eat some breakfast" just to make sure that he understood what she was saying, she pouted slightly, as both Ginny and her mother had told her, the pout was a girls secret weapon, batting your eyelashes tended to make boys laugh, which defeated the whole purpose of the act in the first place.
Rags' raised eyebrow indicated that he was aware or the semi guilt trip that Hermione was trying to send him on. But he did pick up his spoon and continue eating his breakfast, the small smile that he sent her way reminded her of the smile that had adorned his face the moment that he had woken up his head nestled in her lap.
Just thinking about it took her back to that moment only a few days ago. For Hermione it had been a strange night, one of the ones that she had spent the majority awake, but had not once even looked at a novel or textbook. She had spent the evening gently stroking her hand over his face and through his long hair, which had surprised her as she was sure that the constant attention would have disturbed Rags' slumber, but it hadn't, he had actually moved his head closer to her hand to increase the contact.
This situation gave Hermione a chance to observe Rags at a time when he was most vulnerable, she had only briefly seen him sleep when she had seen his memories, but after seeing him sleep for the whole evening she had been able to see how he should look. How he would have looked, minus the scars, if he had lived the kind of childhood that Hermione and Ginny had lead, that of a child with a loving family.
He didn't look innocent exactly, but rather he looked relaxed, his features much more gentle than they were when he was awake, though not harsh, there was a certain tightness about his features and stance that had disappeared when he had fallen asleep.
His eyes had fluttered open, and for one humorous moment, he'd had absolutely no idea where he had been, but that had changed when he had set eyes upon Hermione they had snapped into focus with such clarity that the speed had been astounding. Although the small smile upon his lips didn't take away any severity of his gaze, it did make it gentler, despite this in Hermione's opinion it was more intense than anything else, and she liked it.
"Have you been watching over me all night?" he asked, his voice, surprisingly, not laced with sleep, but soft and gentle. As he finished speaking he gently caught her hand, as it had begun doing what it had done the previous evening and begun stroking his hair.
"Yes" was her equally soft and gentle response, her eyes had not left his, even as he had sat up and turned to face her.
"What's the time, it feels early" he said, noticing that the sky outside was still dark, but this being England meant that the mornings would be dark for a long while, especially if it was as early as he thought that it was.
Glancing at her watch Hermione turned to Rags and said "Its four thirty in the morning, I thought from the way that you were sleeping that you would sleep until noon."
His eyes flickered to her lips for a moment, and his smile grew a little larger, both found themselves drawing closer together. Until it was Hermione that grew tired of the slow pace, and grabbed him by that back of the head and crashed their lips together.
What started out as a fierce snogging fest soon became much more slow and gentle and seemed, to the pair to last far longer than it really did. When the kiss itself ended Hermione, found that she was nestled against Rags' powerful chest, snuggling in she soon found herself in a very comfortable position.
It was strange, Hermione thought to herself, she had been awake for most of the night but she didn't feel tired in the slightest, even now. She soon realised that she was actually lying on Rags' chest her head nestled just below his chin, she could not remember them actually lying down, but she was not overly concerned about them doing so. This, itself was an indication of how content she was at the situation she found herself in, she was neither worried or concerned that someone would see the two of them like this, nothing mattered to the two of them but each other.
They spent the rest of the early morning, until the sun came over the mountains of Scotland that surrounded the castle, talking quietly about different things. Things that had no real consequence and were more like flights of fancy than real topics of conversation, but to Hermione and Rags they were exceptionally important, for they allowed the two of them to spend some much needed time together, that made their relationship all the stronger for the it.
--
That had been several nights ago and now the pair were closer than ever, they had never gone beyond kissing, in fact they hadn't spent the night sleeping together since that night, but they had talked through the night, discussing any and all topics that came to mind, and now Hermione was wondering the best way for Rags to meet her parents. They of course knew about him, hardly a letter went home to the Granger household without Hermione mentioning her friends, so a boyfriend was going to get at least some mention, and from Hermione Granger that meant no less than one page. At least her mother was keen to meet him, her father was of the opinion that she was too young to begin dating until she was, at least, thirty five something that the other two Granger women heartily disagreed with him upon.
Meeting Ginny's gaze she felt a flush colour her cheeks as another memory came to mind, that of Ginny discovering the two later that morning, she had not mentioned anything at the time but she had teased Hermione quite unmercifully for the rest of that day. Although to be fair, the pretty red head was not much better, as she was constantly caught staring at Harry caught usually by Hermione, which unfortunately evened the playing field, which meant that the teasing must go on. So while their respective girlfriends were teasing each other into oblivion Harry and Rags were exercising that ancient proverb, most likely created by a Gryffindor "The Strong are Staying Silent".
Hermione looked over at Ginny and her smile was no longer teasing but happy for her friend, Ginny had come running to Hermione the other day and had told her that Harry had told her something wonderful, something that she had been waiting to hear for some time. Harry had pulled Ginny aside and told her that he loved her, although in typical Harry fashion it had taken him about ten minutes to do it. Harry Potter, one of the most famous wizards of the twentieth century, had told Ginny Weasley, a girl from a poor but proud pureblood family, a family that could not offer him anything in return, that he loved her, the response had of course been the same, Ginny had been interested in the legend of Harry Potter since she was four, and had liked him progressively more since he had saved her life in the Chamber of Secrets. Yes it had begun as a childlike infatuation but she had gotten past that and seen the real Harry, and had truly fallen for him.
It also explained the ever present grin that had adorned Harry's face for the last few days, he had been going around with a smile that if it was turned into electric current, would have been able to power an area the size of greater London for several years.
Rags, despite being ever so slightly nervous about the upcoming match was actually feeling exceptionally content with the way that his life was going at the moment, and content was a word that he didn't think that he had used much in his normal vocabulary, let alone to describe his own life. But right now with his friends around him, with Hermione being the caring influence that he had prayed for throughout his entire life, time travel and all, he was starting finally to move on from what had happened to him, little did he know that before the end of this year things would rapidly change, for better or worse only the three spinners could tell, and no mortal ever got a straight answer out of them.
--
The rest of the day passed as many of them had before, with the students hurrying to class, and the Gryffindor and Slytherin houses doing their best to rile each other up, and in Slytherin's case, trying to hex members of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, mainly at the urging of their new Captain, Draco Malfoy.
Harry, as the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain had issued a standing order, and it was that no team member went anywhere alone, especially Ginny, whom he escorted everywhere himself. Anywhere that the team could be ambushed no one went alone except for one person, funnily enough it took Ron most of the day to realise that a) No one was going with him into what he categorised as danger areas and b) None of the Slytherins were trying to hex him. He thought that it was because of his great prowess as a wizard, it was, unfortunately, because they did not think that he was worth the effort.
Rags however had once again startled his Gryffindor housemates, he had actually volunteered to go with people when they were going to be off and by themselves, seeing as his schedule for that day was actually quite light, with only Ancient Runes and Defence Against the Dark Arts to occupy his time, of course Snape took points from Gryffindor for absolutely everything that they did, even in Harry and Rags' case, making their chairs squeak too loudly when they sat down.
Rags had taken an almost fiendish glee in waiting for the Slytherin's to spring their traps on the 'unsuspecting' Gryffindor that they had cornered, only for him to appear and get the drop on them, and leaving them facedown, tied together and immobilised on the cold Hogwarts corridor floors was just so satisfying. Slytherin may be the house of cunning and ambition, but they had nothing on someone who had been taught from an early age to either kill or be killed, the fact that he was a Slytherin by blood and not by sorting helped him immensely, and he had the rest of the team, sans Ron, laughing at the dinner table as he recounted his exploits of the day.
But later that evening when the majority of Gryffindors had gone to bed Rags, Hermione, Ginny and Harry had sat in their usual positions, Harry and Ginny, with Ginny on the former's lap, in their big squashy armchair. Rags and Hermione taking up most of the space on the couch now with Hermione, instead of sitting next to Rags, leaning back against his chest as he leaned against the arm rest of the couch itself, quite a satisfactory arrangement for all concerned.
The four of them could, each in their own way, could feel the slight tension that hung in the air, tension that was caused by the upcoming Quidditch match. Not that there was tension between the team members, but the severity of Slytherin's intimidation tactics, and the rather terrifying fact that Snape had volunteered to referee the match, as Madame Hooch had been called away the previous week due to a family emergency, was weighing heavily on their minds.
Fortunately it was Ginny, in true Weasley fashion, came up with an idea that was designed to relieve that tension in the room.
"Look I know that I don't sleep much before a game, Harry doesn't either, Rags looks like he isn't going to sleep for a week, and we all know that Hermione is the ultimate night owl. So why don't we play a game to relieve the tension?"
Harry was all for it, Rags nodded his head interested to see where this was going, knowing Ginny though he would not be surprised if it was going to be something ever so slightly embarrassing, but it would be fun.
Hermione from her comfortable position in Rags arms was the voice of common sense, and reason, so she said "What game were you thinking off Ginny?" although sounding relaxed, everyone knew that there was a slight apprehension in her voice. Hermione had been friends with Ginny for a long time and knew that her friend had a wicked sense of humour that was more like the twins than any other member of her family, which was good as no one needed another Ron around.
Ginny's resulting smirk would have sent Auror's and Death Eaters running for their mothers, it was a smirk that would look more appropriate on the face of a rising Dark Lord, not a gentle, friendly, sadistic in the best possible way of course, red head.
"Well I was thinking about a friendly little game of truth or dare, couples rules of course" Hermione's jaw dropped, Harry perked up immediately, the year had been progressing very well, and except for a few mishaps, it was extremely boring, there was no real mystery, so far. So something that was going to be funny, entertaining, and adrenaline/hormone pumping at the same time, although his fervour was tampered when he thought that if there was a period where things may get awkward, this was it.
"Ok before we begin lets go over the rules" said Ginny when she had gotten the other three's, somewhat hesitantly in Hermione's case, agreement that they were going to play Ginny had to think quickly to come up with some rules, or knowing how things usually turned out at Hogwarts things would go too far too quick.
"Firstly this is basically the same as normal truth or dare, each person can ask anyone else here a question, but cannot ask the same person two questions in a row, and you can ask the other couple a question or dare that they both must do, but your partner must agree with your question. Also normal truth or dare rules apply, if you are given a dare or a question that you absolutely do not want to answer then you can swap to your opposite option."
Rags squeezed Hermione tightly and said "Come on Hermione, this might be fun" Hermione relaxed slightly as some of the tension left her and she smiled slightly and nodded her head.
"But I know everything about you, seeing your memories saw to that" she said sweetly, causing Ginny and Harry to make mushy kissing faces, which were pointedly ignored by the other two.
Rags smirked at this and said in a low tone "Actually you know all the bad things about me and my...unique past, I have plenty of other secrets that you and the two giggling morons sitting over there don't know" winking, which caused Hermione's heart to flutter slightly at the unintentional sexy gesture, "This would be an excellent time for you to find out."
Hermione turned to Harry and Ginny, who had too innocent faces, and said in a completely serious tone, and knowing that she would be teased for what she was going to say, "Let's play, who goes first?"
Ginny raised her hand and said "Seeing as this is my idea I'll go first, oh and the person that is asked the question gets a turn once they have completed their dare, or answered their question. Ok now who should I ask first?"
She would have cackled at the sight before her, except that it was un-lady like and her mother had told her to always be lady like, she wasn't always but she tried, really. The sight that had her so amused was the slightly fearful expression on Hermione's face, she couldn't see Harry as she was sitting on him, but she found the most humour in what Rags was doing, he was hiding behind Hermione's soft curls trying to not draw attention to himself. But the muscled arms encircling Hermione's waist, and the bronze hair sitting above Hermione's head kind of gave him away however.
Deciding to be kind to Rags Ginny decided that the first victim of the First 1996 Truth or Dare competition would be Hermione Granger.
Still smiling Ginny opened her mouth "Hermione, truth or dare?"
Hermione gulped slightly before deciding to play it, hopefully, safe said "Truth please" Ginny's expression changed to thoughtfulness, obviously she had hoped that Hermione would choose dare.
"Ok who was your first crush...at Hogwarts?" With this question Hermione's face turned the same colour as the tomatoes that they had eaten that night in the salad at dinner, and it was quite obvious that the answer was going to be embarrassing, and humorous, not for her, but Ginny was sure that she was going to get a laugh out of it.
Hermione, still scarlet, mumbled her answer so badly that Harry had to ask her to speak up, finally she squeaked out her answer "O...Ol...Oliver Wood" after this admission she buried her head in her hands in embarrassment.
Ginny was speechless, she had expected someone like Cedric Diggory, not the dishy Gryffindor Captain Oliver Wood, Harry roared with laughter, Rags, who had been told about Harry and Hermione's earlier adventures, which had involved Harry's early adventures with Quidditch, so he knew who Oliver Wood was, chuckled quietly and gave Hermione a gentle squeeze.
Although the four of them were laughing, Hermione because it was either laugh or cry at this point, Harry and Rags because it was funny, when Ginny said "YOU DO LIKE QUIDDITCH PLAYERS!"
Hermione managed to shut up her friend and make Rags join her in embarrassment by saying "Well I've got one of my own now, so there is nothing to worry about is there? Now I do believe that it is my turn, correct?"
Everyone nodded, and waited with baited breath to see who she would ask when suddenly "Harry truth or dare?"
Harry pretended to look thoughtful for a moment before he said "Sod it, dare."
Hermione grinned for a moment before she said "I dare you to go down to the kitchens and bring us back some snacks and butterbeer, without your cloak."
Harry's face blanched for a moment before he said "Done, give me ten minutes" kissing Ginny on the cheek he got up and nipped out of the portrait hole, once he had gone Ginny looked to Hermione and said "Are you happy now? You just lost me my cushion."
Hermione sniggered at her friend "Don't worry he'll be back, and he'll bring snacks with him, and then you get you cushion back, although personally I prefer the pillow version" she said while using her elbow to nudge Rags in the ribs, getting his attention.
"You do realise that I am still here you know, and I am more than just a pillow" he said with mock indignation, he rather enjoyed it when his friends acted like this, it showed him that they could act their ages and have fun even though the wizarding world was shrouded in so much darkens.
Hermione looked over her shoulder and smirked at her boyfriend and said "I know you're more than a pillow, but that doesn't stop you from fulfilling that role very well does it?" Not expecting and answer beyond his answering shrug, she turned back to Ginny, just as the portrait hole burst open and harry came in with a large bag in his hand, obviously out of breath.
"I swear that the next time that I see that bloody cat I'm going to punt it into the middle of next week, I mean you could have let me take the map with me never mind the cloak" placing the bag full of food on the coffee table that was situated between the sofa and the armchair, he noticed that Hermione was smiling slightly, he braised his eyebrow wanting to know what was going on.
The answer actually came from an unlikely source, one that had kept quiet for a majority of the evening, but nonetheless had been paying close attention to what had been going on, Rags.
"Harry, Hermione didn't say that you couldn't take the Marauders Map with you, I think that was part of the dare you had to think about it, look at who issued the dare."
Harry looked over at Ginny who was snickering behind her hand, Rags who was grinning like a Weasley twin on sugar, and finally at Hermione who was looking like the cat that had gotten the cream, and as a result he could only say one thing about the whole incident.
"Oh...crap" then everyone burst out laughing.
Harry couldn't help but join in, the situation was just too humorous for him not too "Alright you lot I get it you got me good Hermione, I think that my bad influence is finally showing its head." Which caused, a none too small smile, to grace Hermione's pretty face.
After passing round the butterbeer and snacks, and with Harry, once again having been claimed by Ginny as her 'cushion' the game began again with Harry saying "Ok then so it's my turn, I think I'm going to have to go with Rags on this one. What do you say mate? Truth or Dare?"
Rags met each of his friend's eyes with a small smile and said "Truth, do your worst...Captain."
Harry narrowed his eyes at that, not maliciously but he was not overly fond of people calling him 'Captain', "Oh don't worry My Lord, I'm sure I can think up a question that will put you in your place."
Rags laughed at that and waited to see what Harry would cook up for him, well he was smiling up to the point that he realised that Harry, judging by his relationship with Ginny, the friendship of Hermione and the influence of the Weasley twins would indeed be able to think up a suitable nasty question to ask him.
Harry smirked and said "Alright then tell us. When did you first realise that you had feelings for Hermione? And what was it that caught your eye?"
"OH good one Harry, I don't think he can get out of this one without dropping himself in it" cackled Ginny, who had given up on being mature and decided that she would just laugh when the situation called for it.
Rags surprisingly just smiled and said, to the surprise of the others, "I thought you were going to ask me a hard question Harry, this one is rather easy. I first noticed that Hermione was beautiful the first time that I saw her on the Hogwarts Express. But what 'caught my eye' as you described it was her smile, it was just after I offered to go on her prefect rounds with her, when she smiled at me, she went from being beautiful to radiant, and it was then that I knew that I wanted to see that smile again, after that I knew that I was going to have feelings for her."
Needless to say there was a stunned silence for a moment while everyone processed exactly what Rags had said, everyone, even Hermione had expected that Rags was going to be at least embarrassed by the question, not have an answer to the question on the tip of his tongue.
Hermione, after she got over her shock, made a noise that was half squeak, half sob then quickly turned around and buried her head in Rags' chest hugging him as tight as she could from where she was sitting. Rags automatically hugged her back, that was one thing about being in a relationship that Hermione had been able to teach him, when the other person in the relationship wanted a hug, they got a hug, although in typical male fashion got the reason for her reaction all wrong.
"Hermione I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you. Tell me what I did wrong, and I'll do what I can to fix it...please talk to me."
Hermione looked up into his eyes, tears still glistening on her face, but with a huge radiant smile on her face she, that only confused poor Rags even more, that is until she spoke to him.
"Rags you did nothing wrong, just the opposite in fact, what you just said was probably the sweetest thing that anyone has ever said to me. So trust me you got a fair amount of positive boyfriend brownie points for that comment."
Harry prodded Ginny to get her attention and when she turned to face him he whispered "Look I know I'm pretty clueless about mushy relationship stuff" at her resulting glare he quickly clarified "Not with you, just stuff in general, I know that was one hell of a compliment that Rags just payed Hermione, especially seeing that he said that her smile was what he noticed first, instead of something more...physical, but why did it get such a strong reaction from Hermione?" He knew that Hermione often thought of herself as plain, but anyone could see that she had become a beautiful young woman; he didn't understand what was going on.
Ginny decided to enlighten her somewhat clueless boyfriend to what was going on "Harry, Hermione has not really spoken off what her home life is like right?" at his answering nod she continued "Her parents are great but because she loves books, learning and reading so much the children in her muggle neighbourhood treated her differently, making fun of her, and it got a bit worse since she started coming to Hogwarts, because as you know the standard muggle excuse for Hogwarts is an exclusive boarding school in Scotland. So I think it was Rags just saying something so sweet, and meaning it totally, just made her feel a lot better about herself."
Of course Ginny didn't mention all the times that Hermione had confided in her about the bullying that she had been on the end of as a little girl, simply for being different, for loving learning and books and wanting to be more than just another wife to some low level management type. This just enforced one of the most relevant reasons why wizarding kind avoided revealing themselves to muggle kind, muggles may not have the power of magic to aid them, but in many ways this only made them that much more vicious.
After the tender moment between Rags and Hermione had ended, along with Harry and Ginny's little conversation, the game began again this time with Rags at the helm.
He leaned down and whispered something into Hermione's ear, she quickly spun around and looked at him a shocked look on her face, that set Harry's internal alarm raging, especially when that shocked look morphed to become a smile of fiendish delight, with a nod of his girlfriend's head Rags turned back to Harry and Ginny and said.
"Very well you two, Couple Truth or Dare?" and before Harry could say anything with Ginny she jumped right in and said "Dare, and do your worst Rags, Harry and I aren't backing out of this one no matter what, right Harry?"
Unfortunately all Harry could manage was a squeaky "Right", he however remembered exactly who Rags' father was, and thought that if he wanted to be he could be just as evil, he wasn't to be disappointed.
With a Malfoy like smirk Rags asked his horrible dare "Very well then I will hold Ginny to the conditions that she specified, the dare is this, both of you go to one of the dormitories or bathrooms" he paused here for dramatic effect, and Harry hoped, just hoped that the dare might involve snogging and not something that will make him cringe for the rest of his life, Ginny's eyes had lit up at the prospect, having come to a similar conclusion as Harry.
"And when you are there you are to swap clothing" as the colour drained from his friends faces his eyes flickered with his mischievous devilry and his smirk got all the larger "all your clothing. So seeing as Ginny has already bound you to this dare Hermione and I will see you two back here in a few minutes, off you go."
--
It was about midnight when Hermione and Ginny went to the Gryffindor girl's bathroom, most likely to have a girl chat, during the time that they were away Harry, once again in his own clothing, after the most embarrassing experience of his life, decided to talk to Rags about something he had been meaning to discuss for a few days.
Harry motioned Rags to lean forward so that the two of them could have a private conversation without being overheard by anyone who happened to wander through the common room, although the group that were sitting here constituted the majority of the Gryffindor night owls, one or two others might be having meetings of their own in other parts of the castle.
Rags raised an eyebrow at Harry's covert displays but settled down to pay attention, convinced that what he was going to say would be important, or at the very least interesting.
"Rags, Ginny and I we watched the memories that you gave us" Harry had to pause there, he was used to being in difficult situations but nothing like this, disregarding the fact that Rags had voluntarily given up his memories, it was another thing to say that you had seen the most painful events of a friends life.
Rags just nodded his head and waited for Harry to continue, he knew that Harry needed to say this, and he supposed, he needed to hear it.
"Rags I don't know what to say, how you were able to keep going year after year. I don't think that I could have done it. Also just so you know it really affected Ginny, she felt really guilty about it."
"Guilty why? She had nothing to do with it, what on earth would she have to feel guilty about?" said Rags, his voice a little louder than he had intended, his expression mirroring his voice, confusion was written plaint to see.
Harry raked a hand though his messy black hair, a gesture that could have female hearts a fluttering all over the school in the right environment. "She feels guilty because she had a family; poor though they are, they are always there for each other. But like any family they have their ups and downs, I think she remembers all the times that she disagreed with her family, or when they squabbled over something petty. Do you know what I'm saying?"
Rags nodded, understanding the meaning behind Harry's words and said "What do you want me to do?"
"She's better now, and she accepts that there was nothing that she could do to help you, especially as some of the memories are years old, but Ginny, Hermione and I have had a talk and we all feel bad, not only about what happened in Dumbledore's office, but the fact that you had to carry this burden alone for so long, that was the hardest thing for any of us to accept."
Rags was choked up at this last statement, so much that all he could do was lean over and clasp Harry's shoulder tightly in his large hand and say "Thank you Harry" his voice barely above a whisper "I'm sorry that the images were disturbing, but I wanted...no needed you two to see those memories, it was secrets that nearly broke our friendship apart, and I don't want there to be any secrets between the four of us, at least not from my end. Secrets nearly destroyed that which is most precious to me, I won't risk that again."
Harry nodded his head, Rags' words struck a chord inside of him and he realised what he must do, he couldn't put off telling his friends about the prophecy any longer, Voldemort was getting stronger, Harry's car was paining him more frequently, and his friends were being put in danger by not knowing everything that they could.
It was here that Rags very nearly opened his mouth and said what he had discovered in the memories that Harry had given him, he wanted to so badly, but knew that he couldn't. So it was that he found that he was forced to once again keep a secret from his best friend, something that he had sworn to himself, minutes before, that he would not do again. He had to tell someone though, it was a secret that had more riding on it than just Harry, so in his silence, and he resolved to tell Dumbledore the first time that he could.
The girls came back then, and after a quick explanation from Harry as to what he and Rags had discussed, Ginny became emotional again. She'd had practically the same conversation that the two boys had except with Hermione, and one or two little differences, such as their little plot.
It took a hug and a few words from Rags to calm her down, he told her what he had said to Harry, that she should not feel bad about the past that he had endured, and eventually she did calm down and became her usual chirpy self, but the other three noticed that she pulled Harry's arms a little tighter around herself than she had before.
--
The night progressed on in almost the same fashion, with truths being told and dares being given out. Some of the things said were so funny the foursome thought that they would be smiling for a long time, especially considering one of the answer Rags had given to a question asked by Ginny.
Ginny had asked Rags what the most embarrassing magical failure Rags had suffered was, he had explained, rather red faced, that he had been working on a potion that he was supposed to master otherwise risk extreme punishment, but his sister had decided that he had spent enough time trying to get the potion right, and expected him to drop everything and entertain her, something he pointedly ignored, as most older brothers tend to do. The fact that they were seven at the time explained their immaturity.
This unfortunately lead to Rags' head being pushed into the lukewarm cauldron, which had the side effect of turning his hair blue for three weeks, not his most flattering look, apparently. This seemed to mark the end of the evening/ morning festivities, as it was not long after this that the sun's rays began to climb over the Scottish mountains that surrounded the castle.
The four friends gathered at one of the larger windows to watch the sunrise, they did not speak, for they were watch another kind of magic, magic that was performed without the aid of a wand, without the aid of enchantments and incantations, this was the magic of the world, life itself. As the golden orb rose above the horizon, and its piercing rays touched their faces they were filled with warmth, hope for the future, and strength to face the new day, strength that at least some of them would need.
--
Hermione and Ginny were sitting eating breakfast in the Great Hall waiting for Harry and Rags to come down from Gryffindor Tower; Harry had held Rags back to have a few words with him, probably about the Quidditch match. Ginny though knew that it wasn't something majorly important as she hadn't been asked to remain, and as a starting Chaser, it would have made sense for her to be there.
Ginny glanced up at the head table, the shock of seeing her brothers, Fred and George, chatting with Dumbledore when she and Hermione walked in through the doors, they hadn't given her any indication what their intentions were for the day, but she assumed that at some point they were going to corner Rags, and what happened from there was anyone's guess.
The doors opened once more and Rags and Harry entered the hall decked out to the nines in their scarlet and gold Gryffindor Quidditch robes, Ginny couldn't help but notice two things that made her smile and smirk at the same time. Firstly was how good Harry looked in this Quidditch robes, she had of course noticed this a long time ago, but there was no harm in looking again was there. The thing that made her smirk however was the small sigh that escaped Hermione's lips as she looked at the powerful from of Ragnar Valerian, Nimbus 2000 casually slung over his shoulder, beaters bat hanging from a leather thong attached to his belt, and the Quidditch armour encasing his body making him look less like the powerful young man that he was, and some form of ancient Greek titan.
More than one heart fluttered at the sight of the large bicep muscles bulging in his arms, the fact that he was obviously acting so casual and not straining himself, was only more impressive.
Harry on the other hand laughed at a comment that his large friend made and slugged him playfully in the arm, this simple gesture elicited a grin from Rags, who appeared to have gotten over his nervousness about playing his first game, the first game of the season, his first game and the first game of the season and against the old enemy, Slytherin.
This new change in the big Norwegian lasted until he sat down next to Hermione and whispered in her ear "Curse me quick before I make an arse of myself in front of the whole school."
Hermione just shook her head, it appeared as though her boyfriend hadn't gotten over his nerves about the game, and that confident look that he had when he and Harry entered the hall, was either some very good acting, or some clever distraction on Harry's part.
Hermione just sighed and pulled out her wand, she wanted to encourage Rags so she decided to be both stern and playful, hopefully confusing him enough that he would forget his nerves about the upcoming match.
Rags suddenly found himself doing two things, the first was going cross eyed, something that he rarely ever did, second, and the reason that he was doing this, was that he was staring down the 10 ¾ inches of Hermione's wand.
"Rags be a good boy and eat your breakfast, or I will be forced to curse you so that you will never be able to snog again. Do I make myself clear?"
The comically panicked expression that filtered across Rags' face had some of the Gryffindors that were sitting nearby to snigger into their hands, all except Ron, who glared balefully at the boy who, in his opinion, had stolen Hermione from him.
For a moment Hermione thought that she really had scared Rags by threatening to curse him, and judging from his atrocious upbringing and lack of care from people that should have looked after him, it would not have been an inaccurate assumption to make. But the tiny smile on Rags' face, as he ate a small omelette and the twinkle in his eye let her know that he found the situation as funny as she did.
As the foursome were enjoying their pre-Quidditch breakfast they were joined by an interesting person in the form of Luna Lovegood, often referred to as Loony, although never in front of Harry. She was wearing a hat, and what a hat, it was stylised to look exactly like a roaring lions head, in fact it was an actual lions head, not in the way that it was alive, but that it roared at any Slytherins that went past.
While Hermione, Ginny and Harry were talking about the upcoming match with Katie Bell, who had joined them after she had entered the Hall. Rags on the other hand had started up a conversation with Luna, which caused the strange young girl to smile brightly, not many people took the time to talk to her like an equal, they often talked down to her as though she was stupid for believing in things that were different than what other people believed.
But her conversation with Rags, someone that she had only spoken to in passing before now, held none of the normal insults that the people in her own House included when she spoke to them. The talked about everything that interested Luna, from Crumple-Horned Snorkack, to her favourite works of muggle fiction, which Rags had better luck talking to her about than the Snorkack, even though the only muggle books that he had read was The Phantom of the Opera, one of the novels that Hermione had given him for his birthday.
Soon enough though it was time for the players and fans to make their way to the pitch, Luna gave Rags a friendly farewell wave before she joined with Neville and some of the other Gryffindors that she was going to watch the match with.
Hermione sighed at the conversation that Rags had with Luna, she liked the girl well enough, but it infuriated her when she talked about creatures that all the proper documented sources not only said that they did not exist, they also said that there was no chance of them existing. She moved up to Rags and took him by the arm and lead him to a small alcove just off the Great Hall.
"Rags it's great that you're talking to Luna, she needs all the good friends that she can get. But why do you encourage her about the creatures that only she thinks that exists? Especially when all you have to do it look in the reputable source material and you can find the information that specifically states that they do not exist."
The question itself, although not in the best of taste, was not asked maliciously Hermione really wanted to know the reason behind Rags' actions.
He smiled slightly and offered Hermione his hand, as he indicated with his head that they should make their way down to the pitch, as his other hand was still holding his broom. Hermione smile and took the offered hand, she enjoyed many things about being in a relationship with someone, but the little things such as holding hands when they walked somewhere was something that always brought a smile to her face.
They exited the castle hand in hand and noticed that Harry and Ginny were not that far ahead of them, and both of them had to smile as they noticed that Gryffindor's Seeker and 2nd Chaser were also walking hand in hand.
Rags gave Hermione's smaller hand a gentle squeeze to get her attention before he started speaking "Hermione I don't understand why you have such an aversion to the things that Luna believes."
At her startled, slightly hurt look, he gave her hand another squeeze and continued "I am not angry at your questions, and I believe that Luna isn't either, what does upset her is when you dismiss something that she obviously so strongly believes in. There are many things in this world that can't be explained, either through muggle or magical means, and that fact that a book dismisses them does not mean that they do not exist."
Hermione had slowed so much that Rags ended up stopping with her and taking both of her hands in his, after he put his broom on the ground; he rubbed her knuckles with his thumbs and smiled at her, trying to relieve some of her mounting negative emotion.
"Hermione never change who you are, question things, if there is something that you don't agree with question it, if there is something that you don't understand, unlikely that it may be, question it your quest for knowledge is one of the many things I lov..admire about you. But question things for the right reasons, don't question something's existence out of a need to dismiss it out of hand, question its validity out of a need to understand things. I will admit that some of the things that Luna believes in probably don't exist, but I am not going to judge her for believing it, it should be encouraged, for what would the world be without a little mystery in it?"
Hermione nodded her head, his correction registering at the back of her mind to be analysed at a later date, and although Rags' tone had been gentle, she felt like she had just been chastised, maybe because she felt that she needed to be so. She felt that she had let, not only her friends down by dismissing things that books said were irrelevant or in some cases unreal, but that she had also let herself down. As to a muggle-born magic was a great mystery, a mystery that muggle texts said did not exist. But in the magical world, as had just been revealed to her, she had been discounting some of her new world's mysteries because textual sources said that they did not exist.
She sighed sadly to herself and looked up into Rags' caring stormy grey eyes and said "You're right, I've never thought about it that way before, it's just never occurred to me that the texts that I have been studying are wrong. I've become one of the things that I hate in this world, someone who dismisses an academic standpoint out of hand without having all of the facts."
Rags immediately pulled her into a hug to let her know that he was still there for her, through the good times and the bad, and especially through times such as this, times of great personal conflict. "Hermione it might surprise you to know, but I believe in things that many people would dismiss without a second thought."
Hermione, reluctant to leave Rags' embrace, but understanding that he had a Quidditch match to play, handed him his broom, then lifted his free arm and snuggled herself under it, providing her with both the level of intimacy that she needed at the moment and some much needed warmth to stave off the encroaching chill.
With herself comfortably settled Hermione turned to Rags and raised an eyebrow, a sign that he had come to understand to mean that she wanted a further explanation to what he had just said, and with a smile on Rags' face they continued their walk towards the pitch, as they walked Rags continued talking.
"From an early age, as early as I can remember, I have been brought up to worship the old ways, the old gods of the world." He couldn't help a smirk that slipped onto his features as Hermione turned to look at him in surprise, she had been ready to accept a great many surprises from Rags, but something to do with religion sure wasn't amongst her list.
"It's true" he said with his smirk becoming a smile "my family never converted to Christianity, I was brought up to follow the old gods of the old religion. Odin, Thor, Loki, Bragi, Njorod, Freyja, Gefjun, Gna and Hariasa. I've worshipped all of them just depends on when the occasion arose for a specific one, for example, by now you are quite intimately familiar with Matsuro, when I forged that blade I prayed and made offerings to Thor, the god of thunder and smithing. Even the gods that I haven't mentioned here have been worshiped in some form or another, for if a man or woman as the case may be, disregards the gods only misfortune will follow in their footsteps."
Glancing at Hermione's open mouthed expression Rags let out a great bellow of a laugh, the result of which was a smoothing of his face making him look more like he should have looked, rather than the scarred visage that he wore today.
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier but I didn't think that I needed to. I know I don't exactly have the best track record with secrets when it comes to you, Harry and Ginny, but seeing as this wasn't really a bad secret I didn't think that it would matter that I didn't just immediately come out and say it. Also I thought that you might think it was...well... a bit silly to believe in something as different and strange as the Nordic Gods."
Hermione sighed against the muscular shoulder that her head was resting on at the moment, it was a sad thought but unfortunately a true one, religion was one of the things that was scorned to a certain degree in both the muggle and wizarding worlds, but more so in the muggle as the wizarding was still steeped in centuries year old tradition, although Hermione liked to think that she would have accepted that Rags was religious, at least religious in some form, but to her analytical mind the concept of belief in a higher power was foreign to her.
She was reminded of her grandmother on her father's side, her Grandma Amanda, whom she called Grandma Mandy, was a deeply religious Catholic, which was one of the only things that Hermione disagreed with her grandmother on.
"Rags I'm sorry that I...that we gave you the impression that we would poke fun at your beliefs. But I swear to you now that it will not happen. From what you have told me today I will try to keep a more open mind about things."
Rags pulled her into a tight hug and said "I hoped you would say that, but like I said before don't ever change who you are Hermione, keep asking questions. But take a few more things on faith" he chuckled a little before he said "you may find that the magical world is more magical than you originally thought."
Hermione's laughter joined with his own as they continued towards the pitch, but all too soon they had arrived and the pair had to part ways, Rags to the Gryffindor change room for his pre match briefing, and Hermione to the Gryffindor stand to watch the match with Neville and Luna, as well as some of the other sixth year Gryffindor girls and members of their House.
But just as Rags was about to move towards the pitch he felt himself grabbed and turned round to face Hermione again, he was then kissed more thoroughly than he could ever remember. His left arm circled Hermione's slim waist and pulled her closer to him wanting to increase the contact as much as he could, well as much as he could seeing as she was wearing fairly heavy winterish clothing, and he was wearing his scarlet Quidditch robes and armour.
When they pulled apart, both of them a little breathless, Rags slightly more so seeing as he was the one that was taken by surprise by the whole thing, once he had managed to catch his breath, much to the amusement of Hermione, he spoke.
"Not that I am complaining Hermione, but what was that for?"
Hermione grinned at him, he was a first class student, practically perfect boyfriend, the person you would want to have guarding your back if you were in trouble, he had a fantastic sense of humour and got on famously with everyone in his school House, but he could be pretty thick at times.
"Its tradition silly, tradition for girlfriends of Quidditch players to give their boyfriends a good luck kiss before the game, just to give them that fighting edge so that they push themselves that little bit harder in the game."
Rags smiled mischievously and said "How exactly am I going to concentrate on this game with the thought of that kiss running around in my game, I may as well go back to the Common Room now and... contemplate" the waggled eyebrows that followed that statement caused Hermione to snigger into her hand and whack Rags playfully in the chest.
"That is your problem my dear Count, but consider this, if you win this contest of strength and wills in my honour I might decide to reward you with a favour upon your victory" at Rags' bemused expression Hermione sighed and dropped the medieval Lady act and said "If you win you get a long snog you dolt."
That got his attention faster than apple crumble at dinner, so with an elegant and courtly bow that would look more at home in a Victorian era soap opera, rather than the cold, frosty, muddy entrance to the Hogwarts Quidditch pitch Ragnar Valerian said "My Lady, your wish is my command."
Hermione grinned along with him, he may have had a terrible childhood but some of the things that he learnt were dead useful, such as Wizarding Etiquette, which was remarkably similar to its Victorian counterpart.
With that the two of them departed each to their separate area of the stadium, for the first Quidditch match was about to begin.
--
Rags was standing in line with the rest of his team waiting for the signal from Harry that would indicate that they were to fly out in their pre designated formation for the traditional handshake by both Captains, although how long that handshake, or even the pretence of civility, would last with both Captains being Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy was something that more than one spectator and player was thinking.
Rags was taking in deep breaths trying to calm his nerves, he could feel the sweat prickle slightly at his hairline and down his back, shaking his head he tried to force down his nerves and emotions the same way that he did when he was about to become so upset his emotions bubbled to the surface, buried them like he did before he went to draw Matsuro.
As he felt himself settle he could not help the small smile that slipped onto his face, he was nervous as hell, but on the other hand he was excited as hell as well, this was the sort of thing that he should have been doing for the whole of his life, enjoying an afternoon of playing Quidditch, just like any other seventeen year old.
Harry took a deep breath; he had managed to put a strong facade on for his team, but the truth was that he was nearly crapping himself at the thought that he was going to have to actually Captain the Gryffindor team. The only thing that kept him focused was that his job as the team's Seeker was relatively simple, avoid bludgers, watch the other teams Seeker, and catch the golden snitch, it was all relatively simple really.
Glancing back he met Rags' eyes and ginned at the smirk that was adorning his friends face "Alright there Rags?"
Rags nodded his head and said "Not so nervous anymore, just anxious to get out there, how bout you Captain feeling ok?"
Harry laughed and said "Feel about the same actually" he heard the announcer start to talk and was surprised to hear that it was Lee Jordan, and guessed that this meant that the twins had arrived, and brought their friend.
--
Sitting in the stands Hermione was surprised to be joined by three surprise guests, there was Fred and George Weasley, who she knew were coming to the game, as they had told Ginny in a letter not long ago. It was strange though, the twins weren't any less friendly towards her, Neville and Luna, who had joined her by this time, but they were giving her odd looks and glances, from which they would glance at each other, most likely silently talking as all twins seemed to be able to do.
But what was surprising was the appearance of Aesir, the magnificent bird floated down gently to land on Hermione's shoulder. The twins were flabbergasted, even more so when they learned that the creature 'belonged' to the person that their younger brother had been whinging about almost since the first day of Hogwarts, they knew exactly how rare a Midnight Falcon was, and their opinion of Rags rose slightly without having met him.
Having Aesir sit on her shoulder like he was made Hermione think of her own egg, now wrapped up warm in one of her jumpers, she had taken to carrying it around with her whenever possible to ensure that it hatched, Ginny and Harry having done the same, although there had been no sign of them hatching anytime soon Hagrid had assured them that they would hatch when they needed them to.
Rags was a quandary to the humorous duo, Harry, Ginny and Hermione all seemed to really like him and get along well with him, rather a stupid statement in Hermione's case as she was dating the bloke, but Ron confused them. He had been saying things that didn't add up, that this 'Rags' had a vendetta against him, that he had turned Harry and Ginny against him for no reason, and that he had stolen Hermione from him.
Fred and George looked at each other, and in their own way they decided to take Ragnar as he came, and decide for themselves exactly how they were going to act around him, as Harry's new best mate, or as someone who had deliberately gone out of his way to hurt a Weasley, if the latter appeared to be true then they would act accordingly, for there was nothing more important than family to a Weasley.
Unaware of the twins musing Hermione had been having a nice chat to Neville and Luna, that two of them had been spending a lot of time together this year, having formed a solid friendship because of the DA and Hermione would not be surprised if they ended up dating. She thought that they would do well together, Neville would keep Luna grounded and Luna would add a bit of excitement to Neville's life.
Hermione had also managed to talk to Luna before Neville showed up, it had not been the easiest conversation she had ever had, but she had been glad she'd done it.
Flashback:
Hermione caught sight of Luna walking ahead of her and called out to the younger girl "Luna hold on a second."
After turning around Luna eyed Hermione with an unusually aware expression on her normally vacant face and said "What is it Hermione? If you have come to tell me that I am being foolish for believing the things that I believe then don't you'll just be wasting your breath. I saw the way you looked at me when Ragnar was talking to me, your disapproval of my beliefs was written all over your face."
Hermione came face to face with Luna and said "Look Luna, Rags just gave me a thorough talking to and I've come to realise something, and that's that I've been treating you unfairly and I'm sorry. I have no right to judge you on what you believe, I myself don't believe in them, mainly because a book says so, but I shouldn't judge you harshly for something that obviously brings you so much joy. All I can say is that I'm both very, very sorry and that I will try to keep an open mind in the future. Like Rags said 'what would the world be without a little mystery in it?'."
Luna smiled brightly, a small tear in her eye and said "Thank you Hermione, I know many of the things that I believe in are strange to most people, but for you to try to accept that I DO believe them means a great deal to me, thank you."
Suddenly her smile became impish and she said "Also I might be able to get you some books that support my beliefs, if you'd be interested in reading them that is?"
With that the two girls walked arm in arm chatting about the mythical creatures of the magical world, something that no one who knew Hermione Granger would have thought she would be doing, with Luna Lovegood no less, and up until that point one of those people would have been Hermione herself.
Flashback: End
Suddenly the amplified voice of Lee Jordan got everybody's attention as he shouted "Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the first Quidditch match of the season where we see the ancient rivals of Gryffindor and Slytherin battle it out once more."
Hermione was cheering along with the rest of Gryffindor but she noticed something a little strange about Lee's commentary, turning to the twins she yelled to be heard over the cheering that was now sweeping the stadium.
"There is something different about Lee's commentary! Do you two know what it is?"
Fred, or it could have been George no one could really tell them apart anyway leaned down and said "He's gotten better hasn't he? Well he commentates professionally now, he is the commentator at the Holy Head Harpies home games."
Hermione nodded her head, Lee certainly had gotten better, at least he hadn't started insulting the Slytherins yet, although McGonagall couldn't give him detention anymore as he had left Hogwarts soon after the twins had.
"Now introducing the Cunning Slytherin's, Urquhart, Vaisey, Warrington, Crabbe, Goyle, Bletchley, and their Captain Malfoy."
The Slytherin stands went berserk, unfortunately it wasn't overly loud in the Hogwarts stadium as Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff were politely clapping their hands, not cheering in the slightest, and the Gryffindors were being lead by the Weasley twins, in looking the other direction.
"Now the Courageous Gryffindor's, Bell, Robbins, Weasley, Weasley, Peaks, Valerian and Captain POTTER" the final bellow on Harry's name was the only indication that Lee supported his Gryffindor roots, all in all, especially considering how he used to be, everyone thought that he had been quite restrained.
In stark contrast to when the Slytherins came out the stadium erupted into cheers as the Gryffindors came streaming out, their scarlet and gold robes flashing in the weak morning sun.
Harry riding his superior Firebolt was in the lead, as befitted his position as Captain, Rags and Jimmy Peakes coming next, as the team beaters they were the two largest and most imposing players on the team, and the sight they made was certainly imposing.
Landing on the pitch after their customary lap Professor Snape approached the two teams, Madame Hooch's leave of absence couldn't have come when Ravenclaw was playing Slytherin, no it had to come when the two houses with the worst rivalry were playing, Captained by the schools greatest rivals, the symbolism was not lost on many of the crowd. Neither was the fact that the game was now refereed by the most bias teacher ever to grace the halls of Hogwarts.
Draco shook Harry's hand, as was required by the two Captains, and from the spectators view it looked like he was trying to crush the Gryffindor's hand, what was less noticeable was that Harry was doing exactly the same thing.
Professor Snape approached the two Quidditch teams, looking more than slightly out of place in the black and white striped robes of an official referee, his voice simply dripped sarcasm as he said.
"I want a nice clean game, any foul play" he sneered at the Gryffindor's "will be met with the harshest penalties that can be enforced, am I understood?" as each Captain nodded his raised his whistle to his lips and sent a shrill note that echoed out across the stadium, signalling the beginning of the game, at which fourteen players shot off the ground taking to the skies to begin the first Quidditch game of the season.
--
The scores were one hundred all, and things were not looking good for the Gryffindors, Snape let almost everything that the Slytherin team did slide, except the most heinous of offenses, that didn't mean that he had called a foul on Goyle when he hit Katie Bell in the face with his beaters bat, with the nearest bludger about ten meters away. After that incident things got ugly.
Rags and Jimmy were doing their best but even they were not able to make much of a difference with Snape ignoring all the fouls from the Slytherins. Finally a time out was called and the teams descended to the pitch, bloodied and weary they were still defiant, determined not to let Snape and his prized snakes beat them, Harry could not have been more proud of his team.
Things really looked their most dire though when a second year Slytherin student, assigned to help Snape during the match, brought over a scrap of parchment stating a change in the proceedings, Harry read it out to his team.
"Due to the severity of this competition I, Severus Snape, the Official Referee for this match have felt that it is necessary to enforce the ruling of Madrid 1803, Subsection 15, Paragraph 12, which states that the runic symbols inscribed around the pitch and surrounding stands shall be activated limiting the casting of magic to the Refereeing Official Only."
Two or three faces in the team paled at the thought that if anything went wrong the entire Gryffindor team was reliant on Snape's reflexes to save them from a potentially life threatening injury, Harry was not pleased.
Taking to the skied once again the Gryffindor's tried to prepare themselves for the onslaught that was to come, they had no idea what they were getting themselves in for.
Ragnar Valerian cursed quietly to himself in his native tongue he had been the cause of a penalty against Gryffindor, a penalty that Ron had been unable to save, Rags felt as though he had let the team down, even though all he had don was catch Crabbe's beaters bat three inches from his face, Snape had called him up for 'Interfering with the oppositions beater'.
He knew that he was on a slippery slope raising to the obvious bait that was laid down by the Slytherin's and their head of House, but his prodigious control over his temper was fraying rapidly, it finally snapped due to the silliest of reasons, one that was completely unrelated to Quidditch.
He had been speeding around and saw a sight that had made his blood boil, as he passed the Gryffindor stands time seemed to stand still, his eyes had immediately been drawn to Hermione the sight of Aesir on her shoulder had brought a much needed smile to his face, but the burly, smarmy, some would say sleazy, form of the Gryffindor Seventh year Cormac Mclaggern trying to talk to her made him angry, and just before the speed of his Nimbus 2000 had taken them out of his line of sight he saw Cormac put his arm around her waist.
Anger boiled out of him, here he was playing a game he enjoyed for the entertainment of others, and some creep makes a play for his girl, the anger combined with the fear that Hermione would switch her affections over to the good looking seventh year, combined with jealously, an emotion that he was relatively unfamiliar with, that someone would even try to take Hermione away from him, turned his anger to rage.
Unknown to him his need to hurt, to maim called out the knowledge, and if anyone had been close enough to see they would have seen his eyes go from stormy blue-grey to brilliant viridian, Ragnar Valerian was mad and someone was going to pay.
Time seemed to slow as he saw a bludger coming towards him, for perhaps the first time in his life, he let true instinct dictate action, gripping his broom tight with both knees he let go with his hands. He timed it to perfection as he swung down underneath his broom he brought his beaters bat swinging down with all his might, the bludger shot off, far faster than it had arrived and struck Gregory Goyle full in the face. The whole stadium watched with baited breath, even some of the Quidditch players stopped to watch. The burly Slytherin sat there, stupidly, for a moment, a stupid/ confused look adorned his face, along with his broken nose and shattered jaw.
Then he fell, his body tumbling off his broom as he lost the battle with consciousness to impact with a dull thud, and most likely several broken bones, onto the Quidditch pitch meters below his current position.
This action by Rags caused three things to happen, completely by accident, the Gryffindor's redoubled their efforts to win the match becoming almost a brutal as their opponents, the Slytherins became more enraged themselves and strived to avenge their fallen comrade, no matter how useless he actually was. Then there was Snape, it was then and there that he resolved to himself that Slytherin was going to win this match, and he was going to make Potter's new friend's life a living hell when he got him back in the classroom. As by knocking Goyle off his broom in such a spectacular fashion, and with the non-magical wards in place, combined with Snape's inability to stop Goyle's fall, Ragnar Valerian had made the former Potions Professor look like a fool in front of the entire school and his colleagues as well, and Snape was not sure which one of those two realities was worse.
Harry was circling the pitch, watching his team play for their very lives, unfortunately feeling rather useless as the Golden Snitch had not yet made an appearance, a few times he thought that he caught a glimpse of it against the crowd, but it turned out to be just a piece of jewellery.
But he too, like his Norwegian friend, was having a hard time controlling his temper, as he not only had to put up with Draco Malfoy's incessant tormenting, he also noticed that two of his least favourite people in the wizarding world were watching the game. Firstly was Cornelius Fudge, the current Minister of Magic, who by the barest margin had been able to keep his office after the revelation of Voldemort's return turned out to be accurate, Harry rightly assumed that the portly politician was there to corner Harry and try to make him side with the ministry and appear to give his support to the anti-dark methods that they were suggesting, and the pre-emptive measures that they were implementing. But Harry had sworn to himself that as long as innocent people were being sent to Azkaban, people like Stan Shunpike, if this was the case then he had no business supporting the ministry in any fashion.
The second person was one Lucius Malfoy, recently released from Azkaban, and cleared of all charges on relation of being a Death Eater because he had, yet again, said that he had been under the imperious curse, and such a prominent pureblood would not lie about being in such a situation.
--
Albus Dumbledore was watching the match but not taking very much of it in, he was instead thinking about a set of memories that he had viewed the night before, they were not his own memories, but rather the ones that had been provided by Ragnar Valerian, and to say that Dumbledore was concerned was understating the matter entirely.
He had a great deal of sympathy for the young man that had to endure so much hardship throughout his life, but he was not going to risk anyone's life over it. He was concerned about several things that he had seen in the memories, such as Voldemort's attempt to transfer his knowledge of magic over to his son, by use of the Knowlegium-Familia ritual. What concerned Albus was that the entire magical knowledge of a Dark Lord now resided in the mind of a sixth year Hogwarts student, his son no less, and if that was there he didn't know what, if anything, had been transferred over at the same time.
He was working on a way to try to explain to Harry that he needed to distance himself from his new friend, something that he didn't want to do, and if he could maybe explain to Ragnar and have him allow Dumbledore to examine his mind then nothing would have to change, when Minerva's gasp of horror drew him back to the game that was being played.
--
McGonagall had gasped for a very important reason, the snitch had been sighted, and both seekers had been off like twin shots from a cannon to be the first to catch it and bring this brutal game to an end putting their brooms into a horrifying dive in the process.
Harry was pushing his Firebolt to its maximum speed, with Malfoy not far behind, trying to get to the snitch, he didn't want to see anymore of his team get hurt, having already caught Ginny when she had been knocked from her broom by Malfoy. His face paled as he saw out of the corner of his eye a bludger heading towards him, reaching out with his hand he tried to catch the snitch as the bludger got ever closer, when it was no more than a meter away he involuntarily closed his eyes not wanting to witness the impact that the cannonball made on his body, when he heard the thwack of a beaters bat striking true.
Looking up he saw Ragnar just behind him eyes glowing, the sight sent a chill down Harry's spine and not for the first time he was glad that he had Rags on his side. The pair glanced behind them at the same and saw that Malfoy was gaining on them when he heard rags call something to him.
"Harry you better catch that bloody thing or this is going to be for nothing" with that Rags pulled his Nimbus out of its dive, using his body as a wall to effectively stop Malfoy, there was a snap followed by a sickening crunch as the two bodies collided and Harry saw both his best mate and worst rival fall to the ground, very fast, apparently lifeless.
Anger boiled inside him, anger at Malfoy Snr for escaping prison, anger at Fudge for staying in office, anger at Rags for getting himself hurt over a Quidditch game, and anger at Snape for being the cause of the brutality of the game they were playing.
Like Ragnar before him Harry's anger called forth power, and unknown to the Chosen One, his eyes began to glow a rich golden glow. Harry willed his broom to go faster, and the broom answered the call, and then almost as if by magic the snitch was in Harry's fist, with just enough time for him to look down and see Rags being carried off the field by Hagrid with a distraught Hermione running to keep up. It was one of the most hollow Quidditch victories of Harry's life.
--
Hermione was both scared and furious at the same time, scared that Rags had gone and hurt himself badly over a stupid Quidditch, and mad at two Gryffindor's for the same reason. One Cormac McLaggern, and Ronald Weasley, Cormac had been trying to put the moves on her for the whole game, telling her how much 'happier' he could make her than Rags could, and how much of a better athlete he was, it was when he put his arm around her waist and slipped it lower she snapped. Her body had reacted to instantly to one of the moves that Rags had showed her, her right foot had broken two of Cormac's toes and her right fist had broken his nose, something she knew she was going to get in trouble for, but unlike her she didn't care at the moment. Fortunately the Weasley twins shoved the big lout towards the back of the stands so that he couldn't bother Hermione anymore, something she was immensely grateful for.
She was mad at Ron because after Rags had been injured she had run out onto the pitch trying to get to her fallen boyfriend when Ron, thinking that she had come to see him had grabbed her in a hug and tried to kiss her in front of the whole school, she had just pushed him out of her way, not even bothering with the idiot so great was her need to see if Rags was alright.
Ginny however had cracked Ron over the head with his own broom and had threatened to hex him if he didn't get out of everyone's way.
This was how Hermione, Harry and Ginny found themselves, once again, waiting around a hospital bed for Rags to wake up, it was not a pleasant sensation of déjà vu. But unknown to all in the hospital wing, including Madame Pomfrey, Dumbledore and even Voldemort himself, the force of Rags' head smashing through Malfoy's broom had broken something deep inside him, shattered the basic, instinctive occlumency barriers that Rags had placed around the part of his mind that contained Voldemort's Dark Magic knowledge, and now that knowledge had been absorbed by his subconscious and just waited to be called out.
Rags however opened his mind, having just been knocked unconscious, something that he was intimately familiar with, only to find himself hugging an armful of sobbing brown haired witch, who kept thanking whatever deity she could think of that he was alright and saying many hurtful things about his intelligence, all together a confusing situation for the young wizard in question.
Even Hermione had to laugh though as the first question out of his mouth had nothing to do with his health and simply stated "Did we win?"
After being assured that they won, and that Fred and George thought that smashing Malfoy around was 'Wicked' and in the middle of Ginny recollection of Rags spectacular, if ill-advised, mid air tackle Dumbledore walked in. He had a brief chat with Madame Pomfrey about Rags' health and asked if he might speak with him privately, the kindly matron didn't like it, but agreed to the Headmasters request, albeit reluctantly.
Dumbledore was then confronted with the four students looking at him expectantly, he asked again if he might speak with Ragnar alone, he was told that anything that was said to Ragnar would then be repeated to the others soon after as he wasn't going to keep secrets from them again, this earned him smiles from his friends and a sad one from the Headmaster.
Dumbledore then spoke of what he had thought off while the Quidditch match was being played, the four were shocked, Rags the most, he had hardly payed any thought to the possibility that Voldemort had transferred something else into his mind along with his knowledge. At this news he glanced fearfully at his friends, fully expecting them to get up and run out of the room trying to get as far away from his as they could, he wasn't sure that he wouldn't act in the same way were the positions reversed.
Instead he found himself being hugged tightly by Hermione again, and hearing her say "Rags, you are still you, and nothing is going to change that, at least in our minds." This simple statement meant the world to Rags, who buried his face in his girlfriend's silky/ wavy hair in order for no one to see the tears of gratitude in his eyes.
Dumbledore spoke again "Rags I'm sorry to ask this but would you be willing to let me look into your mind, to see if there is anything else that Tom transferred over, there is little that can be done for the knowledge, but a spell or anything similar must be treated as soon as possible. I would like you to come to my office after dinner tonight, bring Mr Potter, Miss Granger and Miss Weasley if you like, I'm sure that they would want to offer their support in this matter."
The old Headmaster almost laughed at the empathic nods that he was getting from the other three students, Rags was just smiling slightly top himself, when he surprised everyone by saying.
"Thank you Professor, we'll all be at your office after dinner, I can't imagine that these three at going to let me out of their sight for a while, but I was wondering if I could get your advice on something?"
"Of course dear boy, I would be more than happy to help any way that I can, is it a pressing matter or shall we discuss it later?"
"If you have the time professor I would like to discuss it now, guys I'd go to dinner if I were you, it's probably about to start and Harry and Ginny have to wash up first, I'm ok thanks to Madame Pomfrey cleaning me up before putting me in the bed, so I don't smell like a Dragon Herder. But I'll catch up with you guys at dinner ok?"
As Harry and Ginny nodded their heads Hermione was wondering what Rags wanted to talk to the Headmaster about, but she wasn't going to bother about it, it was his business after all. Ignoring the sniggers from her friends, and the way the Headmaster pointedly looked in the other direction she leant down and gave Rags a sweet lingering kiss and whispered in his ear.
"You passed your test Sir Knight, I'll await you to claim your reward this evening" she managed not to giggle at the blush that swept up Rags' cheeks until she was in the corridor with Harry and Ginny. The three of them made their way back to Gryffindor tower talking about the Quidditch match, and how unpleasant the Slytherins were going to be for the foreseeable future, none of them knowing the conversation of great importance that was going on between their friend and the Headmaster.
--
Sitting on the edge of Rags bed Dumbledore regarded the young man over his half moon spectacles and said "Now rags what is it that I can help you with? If it is relationship advice that you seek I should warn you, it is not my way to comment, or aid student relationships."
He chuckled as Rags once again blushed, but was glad that the lad was also smiling, Miss Granger had obviously been a great influence on him, but the words out of Rags' mouth shocked the Headmaster to the core, and made him jerk back in surprise, sending his glassed tumbling to the stone floor where they shattered into a thousand pieces.
"Professor what I have to say, Harry cannot know of, unless it can be proven true, it would break him and hurt him far more than any lie told to his face. It is to do with Sirius Black, Professor I believe that Sirius Black can be brought back. In fact I'm not completely sure that the man is dead."
A/N: Done :] ok sorry for the delay, no internet, travelling the world, and uni exams make for a long time between chapters. Hope you enjoy, remember Reviews=Chapters *hint hint*
Cheers TBK