A/N: READ AND REVIEW FOR MY SAKE IF ANYTHING!!!

Chapter Eleven

With or Without Your Help

When Stephen Wood was twelve years old he did something stupid. He'd gotten a bad grade in Charms and riled up by his youthful anger, he'd lashed out in a classmate who had gotten a better grade. After a month's worth of detentions Stephen decided that letting anger get the best of him was foolish. The end result was far worse then the mild satisfaction of making some one else as miserable as you are. And for years that personal decision served Stephen exceptionally well. But all that was before Rose Weasley came stumbling into his life.

She mixed up everything. Any sane man would've dropped her as soon as he realized how much of a problem her family was going to be. But it seemed that Stephen had abandoned all of his precious sanity as soon as Rose agreed to be his girlfriend. And even that had broken one of his rules. He'd never dated a girl more then one year older or younger then him so that they weren't terribly more mature or immature then he was.

But Rose had just spilled her beautiful red hair and creamy skin all over that rule. And for the longest time Stephen had been thrilled that he'd broken his rule and separated himself from sanity. Because thus far the benefits (Rose, being with Rose, kissing Rose, touching Rose) had far out weighed the risks (dying at the hands of her family, being hexed, cursed, poisoned by her family).

It was to good being with her that when things started going down hill, Stephen got desperate and when he got desperate he got stupid. So when things finally blew and Rose calmly told him that she didn't think it would be a good idea for them to continue seeing each other, Stephen did something incredibly stupid. It was probably the stupidest thing he'd ever done.

He agreed with her.

Stephen was still kicking himself for that one.

But looking back on the decision he understood completely why he'd done it. He wanted Rose to be happy and if she thought she'd be happier without him, who was he to argue?

Stephen figured that as long as he was being stupid he might as well go all out. He, he'd looked one of his best players in the eye and threatened to kick him off the team if he didn't accomplish an impossible task. Which was stupid on many levels. The most obvious being that James Potter was one of his best players, kicking him off the team would ensure a loss. The slightly less obvious repercussion of his stupidity was that if Gryffindor lost the Cup under his captainship the Quidditch scouts would never consider him for a position a professional team. And then there was the possible punishment from within the school. If James told a single professor what Stephen had said, he could be stripped of his captainship. And without the captainship his career as a professional Quidditch player was over before it began.

The worst part in Stephen's opinion was that he knew all of that and couldn't find it in himself to care. A future without Rose seemed bleak anyway, it couldn't be that much worse without Quidditch as well. He would get some dead end job, like alone whiling away in misery over his broken dreams and slowly wait for death.

Sweet merciful death.

Stephen wondered into the library wishing and dreading the possibility that Rose would be there. He knew it was horribly masochistic to want to see her when he couldn't talk to her or kiss her or just be with her but he couldn't help himself. He still wanted to see her. He still wanted to talk to her. She had said something about "being just friends." Stephen had dismissed the idea initially, because girls never meant that they would actually be your friend when they said that. But the idea had merit.

If Rose was in his life in someway shape or form his future, all of the sudden, didn't seem as bleak.

Stephen scanned the library for her long silky red hair, her most obvious trait, so that he might ask her about her day, tell her about his own (minus the whole morbid outlook on his future) so that they could start their new relationship- excuse me, friendship- out right.

He caught a flash of red hair and for one paralyzing instant he thought that it was Rose snogging the lips off of Scorpius Malfoy. But a closer look told him that it was in fact Lily Potter running her fingers through the older boy's white blonde hair. As Stephen watched with morbid fascination Malfoy tightened his arm around her waist all but pulling her onto his lap. They seemed so completely lost in each other that they didn't notice the wide eyed looks of their classmates none of which were being that stealthy while gawking.

Now Stephen wasn't currently Lily's biggest fan but even he wondered about how this particular liaison would pan out. Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter were well known enemies. Their bad blood went back to their school days. Draco had never even thanked Harry for saving his life that was how bad things still were between them. Harry might welcome Scorpius into the family but there was no way Draco would ever welcome Lily.

She was the mixture of two families he couldn't abide. The Potters and the Weasleys.

And with the connection she had to her family there was no way she'd renounce her own family in favor of his. And that was the only way that maybe, maybe Draco would accept her. She never would though. Stephen felt a prang of sympathy for Lily. Her relationship with Scorpius seemed just as hopeless as his was with Rose. There was nothing they could do if one of them didn't turn his/her back on his/her family.

Stephen turned away from the new couple. They would realize the tough spot they were in soon enough. And even though Stephen had wanted to cause Lily as much trouble as she'd caused him, he suddenly felt pity for her more then anger. Her situation seemed to have more potentially heart breaking then his. At least he'd be able to have Rose in his life somehow. As soon as Draco found out about his son's new girlfriend everything would come crashing down for the two of them. Stephen wouldn't be surprised if Draco and his father came to Hogwarts and physically removed the youngest Malfoy from school.

Scorpius always had been a bit different from the rest of the Malfoy's. For one thing he wasn't a complete tosser. Even though Stephen had never had much interaction with any Malfoy except for Scorpius he'd heard the stories from his parents. His father, Oliver, talked about how both Draco and his father had tried to foil his Quidditch aspiration. But the most damning stories came from his mother. Apparently Draco had hexed her, forced her to deliver a cursed necklace to the headmaster. The package had never reached its intended victim and instead had damn near killed his mother, Katie.

When Stephen realized that he'd be forced to attend school with the son of the man who almost killed his mother, he'd been more then prepared to hate the boy. But Scorpius had proven himself nothing like his infamous family. Stephen had often wondered what kind of friction his friendship with the Potter boys caused at home. But Stephen was sure that it would be nothing compared to the explosion that was sure to take place when this new development was revealed.

With one last look at the blissfully oblivious couple, Stephen slipped from the library determined to find Rose. He was on his way back to the Gryffindor Common Room when two pairs of hands reached out and pulled him into a broom closet. Two pairs of hands that were much too large to belong to girls.

---

Kira watched, mildly amused and immensely confused, as her boyfriend and his brother pulled Stephen Wood into the broom closet across from the library. Unable to come up with a plausible reason why James would force his Quidditch captain into the broom closet with himself and his brother. Kira made her way over to the door and pulled it open. Three surprised and slightly guilty faces stared out at her from the cramped space.

"Kira, babe," James said, casually running a hand through his hair. "What can I do for you?" Albus rolled his eyes at James' bedroom voice.

Kira shook her head. He always picked the wrong time to try to entice her into a snog. Honestly he was standing in a broom closet with his brother and a clearly uncomfortable Stephen Wood. Kira was getting the feeling that James would only be satisfied if they spent their every waking moment snogging. Even then he would complain about her annoying need to sleep every night and her refusal to let him snog her while she slept.

"Normally, I'd ask if I could join you for a snog," Kira said, sarcastically. Even though, normally she would have, present circumstances kept her from doing so. "But," she continued before James managed to get too excited. "Under the current circumstances it seems a bit cramped in there."

Albus snickered at her teasing tone and James harrumphed, obviously upset.

"About these circumstance…" Kira began.

"Yeah, babe?" James asked.

"Stop calling me that," she snapped.

"Sorry, love."

"About these circumstances," she began again. "Should I be worried?"

"Worry?" James repeated. "About what?"

"You've pulled an attractive man into a-"

"Attractive? You better be talking about me," James said indignantly.

Kira sighed. "Did you forcibly pull yourself into that broom closet?"

James blinked. "No, I pulled Wood into this broom closet. But I'm your boyfriend so you should only be referring to me as attractive."

"So, I can't find other blokes attractive because we're together?" Kira asked.

"That's right."

"Do you find other girls attractive?" she asked, dangerously.

"It's a trap, James," Albus whispered.

"He's right," Wood added.

James swallowed audibly and thought a moment. "I don't find any girl more attractive then I find you… attractive?" He smiled, pleased with his jumbled logic.

"Exactly," Kira said, crossing her arms. "Sort of. Look here Potter. I'm going to find other boys attractive and sometimes I'm going to find them more attractive then I find you. But!" she held up a hand before James could interrupt. "I'll never like or fancy or care about another bloke like I fancy and care about you. Which is the only thing you should be worrying about, you great lummox!"

"Well, all right then," James conceded. "You were saying…"

"You've pulled-" James' eyebrows rose "-your captain-" he smiled, "into a broom closet with yourself and your brother. A broom closet that you'd usually use to snog me in. So, what the bloody hell is going on? Because if you've started pulling boys into broom closets I think that's something I deserve to know about."

"I'm not sure what you're asking," James admitted. Kira rolled her eyes.

Albus sighed. "She's asking if you plan on snogging us, James."

"Kira! That's mad!" James exclaimed.

"Look at the evidence, Potter. You, broom closet, several someone elses. It's not outside the realm of possibility and it most certainly is not mad!"

"Like I'd cheat on you with a bloke!" James said.

"So, you'd cheat on me with a girl?" Kira didn't like tying James up in his words, but she had to admit that the flummoxed look on his face was worth it.

"If I were going to-" James began.

"Merlin, no," Albus whispered.

"-it would be with a girl."

"Hmmm… And you got upset when I said that Stephen is attractive and you're thinking about snogging other girls in broom closets," Kira said.

"That's amazing," Stephen said. "That girls think like that. Like Rose assuming that I'd break up with her when I graduated, when it hadn't even crossed my mind."

"So, you didn't plan on breaking up with her?" James asked, looking away from Kira for a moment.

"Bloody hell, no! I'd have toughed it out until she graduated. You two and the rest of your family drove both of us crazy, but I'd have been more then happy to spend the rest of our relationship dealing with it if only she'd given me the chance."

"So, she honestly broke up with you because of what Lily said?" Albus asked.

"She said it was more so because of the way she reacted to what Lily said," Stephen said.

"What does that mean?" James asked.

"I haven't a clue," Stephen admitted.

"Oh, you guys are so dumb!" Kira exclaimed.

"What's that supposed to mean?" her boyfriend demanded.

"She feels ashamed that she let Lily affect the way she treated you, Stephen," Kira told the Quidditch captain. "Rose feels like a coward for not telling you that she didn't feel secure in your relationship."

"So…" Stephen pressed.

"So, she pulled away from you before you could pull away from her. Rose feels like she's protecting herself from an even deeper heartbreak by ending the relationship now instead of waiting until you graduate and seeing what happens," Kira explained.

"But nothing would have happened when I graduate!"

"Did you tell her that? Or did you tell her that you thought it was a good idea to break up?" Kira said knowingly.

Stephen got very quiet and Kira knew the answer. Rose had alluded to the possibility that Stephen hadn't fought for their relationship and that that had confirmed her belief that they were better off apart. Kira had her reservations on that front, but had decided to reserve judgment until she'd spoken with Stephen. Now that she had, she figured out what actually happened.

"I just wanted her to be happy!" Stephen exclaimed.

"Boys just don't get it," Kira sighed. "There are times when your girlfriend wants you to agree with her, that she needs you to just shut up and agree with her. And then are other times when your girlfriend needs you to shut her up and tell her she's wrong. To fight against the logic she's come up with until she's sees that she's wrong."

"I should have fought with her?"

"That seems wrong somehow," Albus said.

"I'll admit that, Al," Kira said. "But it's true, if you want to keep a girl sometimes you need piss her off."

"But I don't want to make you mad," James said.

"Anger is natural and normal in a healthy relationship. You all should be worried if you're in a relationship that where there is only happiness and good will. It means that your relationship lacks depth. That relationship is not going to last."

"Are you sure?" Albus asked. "You know what never mind."

"Back to the crux of the matter," James said. "How do we get Stephen and Rose back together knowing that neither of them really wanted to break up?"

"Regardless of what you might think, James," Kira said, "this matter is not your business."

"But if I don't get them back together I'll get kicked off the Quidditch team!"

"No, you won't," Stephen insisted. "It was wrong of me to even threaten that. Completely unethical. If there's any chance of me making it on to a professional Quidditch team we have to win the Quidditch Cup. The only way we're going to do that is if all my best players are on the field."

James grinned and did a little happy dance. "Is that your sick, guy way of apologizing for losing your temper?" Kira asked. Stephen shrugged and Kira sighed.

"Oh!" The four of them turned towards the utterance. Standing a few feet from then was Lily and Scorpius. "It looks like this closet is taken." Lily took Scorpius' hand and pulled him down the hall and around the corner.

"What was about?" Albus asked.

"They were snogging in the library," Stephen said. James, Albus and Kira turned to him.

"About time," James muttered.

"Regardless, the shit will hit the fan for them soon enough. Surely everyone and their FATHERS will know what happened by morning," Kira said.

"Damn you're right."

Every last one of them thinking about what this burgeoning new relationship would mean for all those involved.