Chapter 9: Chances

The game continued on while another diversion took place under the stands in the locker room. Kurenai led Sakura to a tiled space next to the shower room. It was where she remembered Harry and Kakashi being taken right after the dementor attack during the Quidditch game their first year. After Madame Pomfrey had been sure that they were both stable, the boys, who were unconscious, wet, and pale, were taken up to the hospital wing. She shuddered at the memory.

"You should be fine," Sakura said to Cedric as he sat on one of the metal tables in the room. Cedric already knew it to be true. He'd had the wind knocked out of him dozens of times while playing Quidditch. It wasn't a big deal; it had just been awhile since it'd last happened and he hadn't been ready for it. He told Sakura so and she smiled. "That's good to hear. I'm going to head back then, wouldn't want to miss any of the fun." Despite the sound-enhancing white tiles that made up the room, Sakura managed to leave suddenly without making a sound.

Cedric looked at his hands. Kurenai stared at a Quidditch poster hanging on the wall. "I didn't even get a chance to tell her thank you," he said into the too still room.

Kurenai shrugged, still not looking at him. "I wouldn't worry about it."

"Okay."

"Besides she didn't have to do much. She said you were fine."

"Yeah."

Kurenai shifted from one foot to another. "Well I'd better get back up there too." Kurenai turned to leave.

Cedric looked up, his face crestfallen. "Kurenai, why won't you talk to me?"

Kurenai stopped. She turned around but still refused to look him in the face. "Do we have anything to talk about?" Only years of practice kept her voice from shaking.

Cedric's mouth dropped open in shock, then his jaws clicked together and his eyes narrowed. His tone turned cold, "apparently not."

The words were like needles piercing her skin all over. She rubbed her arm with her other hand as gooseflesh appeared.

Cedric stood up off of the table and walked past her. Then a thought occurred to him. He stopped and looked back at her. "Why did you come back? I need to know."

Her spine stiffened. Just as stiffly she replied, "my Hokage wished it."

"Don't lie to me," Cedric demanded. His words came out in a rush but he didn't care. This needed to be resolved and he may not have another chance. "Kakashi wouldn't have forced you to come. You came for a reason, tell me what it is."

His appeal was met by silence. Cedric walked around her so that they were facing each other. Kurenai would not meet his eyes. She felt cold and shaky, like a leaf in the rain.

The wizard almost whispered, "please, tell me now, do I mean anything to you?"

Kurenai's heart was hammering in her chest. She looked up at him and her eyes revealed everything, she held nothing in check. Her fear, insecurity, love, loss, and loneliness, it was all plain in her scarlet eyes. The sheer volume of emotion was staggering to Cedric. He felt like he'd taken a bludger to the gut instead of the back. Forcing himself to be calm and take a breath, he blinked, thinking. Then he reached up and grasped her hand. Pulling on the appendage gently, he led her over to the bench that lined one wall. He sat down and pulled her down to sit next to him. "Lay it out for me." He now knew what she was feeling, or at least an idea. Frankly he was thrilled to find out that she was at least feeling something. What came next was the all important why. His own confessions could come later.

Kurenai took a breath to steady her nerves and she began. It was like when they'd been teens, talking for hours, keeping Cedric from his charms homework or potions essay. She explained to him how she'd felt when she and her team had left the last time. She told him all about Asuma and Mirai. She talked about her conversations with Kakashi both back then and more recently. She touched on the fact that their civilizations were so completely different that she wasn't even sure one of them could permanently remain with the other. Then she got to the damning point that she was a killer. She laid her heart bare before him, because she'd never get this chance again. She wouldn't pass it up again.

Cedric listened with roller coaster emotions but he remained silent for the most part. His gray eyes never left her expressive face. When she finished she looked at him to try to read his features. He looked back, a small smile on his face. "Kakashi was right. We were just kids. It wasn't worth risking your career, your way of life even, for some teenage boy you met on a mission."

There was a pregnant silence.

"But we're adults now," Cedric continued.

The silence was overpowering.

"And I would still like the opportunity to be with you forever. I have thought of you every day, with all of the talents and faults that make you. I may be stepping into something completely out of my depth," Cedric paused here to take a breath. He'd never been so certain of anything. When it had been just himself and his thoughts of her turning over and around in his mind, he hadn't been sure of anything. But now seeing her again, everything was clear, it was so simple. He loved her. Cedric continued, "but I know I won't be able to forgive myself if I just watch you walk away again."

Kurenai couldn't breathe. She'd hung on his every word, shocked at hearing her own thoughts spoken aloud by him. After a moment she collected herself and, a mad thought occurring to her, Kurenai whispered it out. "Technically you were the one walking away." She gave a strangled laugh and almost burst into tears.

Cedric stared at her in silence for a moment and then he laughed, a great chiming laugh. It grew and echoed around the bare room. The tension was broken and they both looked away, blushing. "I guess I was, wasn't I? I walked away while you stood at the gate," Cedric said still chuckling. He sighed. Then he looked at the opposite wall, thinking. Without preamble, Cedric started in on his explanations. He told Kurenai how he felt, how he'd always felt since he first saw her, that she was something special. He told her about Emily and how he'd wrestled with the decision to dissolve their relationship. He ended his speech by adding, "Asuma sounds like a wonderful person."

Kurenai nodded, smiling. "He was."

They sat in silence until the sound of many feet on the stands above reminded them what was going on around them. "The game must be over," Cedric said, standing up.

Kurenai carefully wiped under her eyes but there was no moisture there. She felt that a great weight had been lifted from her shoulders. Everything looked clear and bright. "We'd better," she said.

"Yeah," Cedric agreed with enthusiasm. Before they parted Cedric caught Kurenai's hand and squeezed it. Kurenai felt that it was something in her chest that was grasped instead. They separated and headed back to join the departing spectators.

Unbeknownst to the couple, the Quidditch game, with its many substitutions and near-misses, had extended into the early night. By the time the snitch was caught it was late and very dark.

Professor Jones squinted to see out onto the dark grounds. "Perhaps it would be better for the ninja to give us their demonstration tomorrow?"

There was a murmur of agreement as many delegate members stretched. Sitting on the hard benches in the Quidditch stadium had done a number on some older bones. Small groups headed up to the castle but there was some lingering and mingling. Guy smiled at his rival. "That worked better than I could have hoped."

Kakashi smiled beneath his mask, "and tomorrow it's our turn."

Meanwhile a very different conversation was taking place several yards away. Hermione caught up with Harry and began walking with him.

"That went better than I expected," Harry commented happily as they trooped across the expanse of grass. The stars were out but some members had lit their wands or conjured lanterns to see by. The various magical beings had been invited to stay either at Hogwarts castle in the dormitories or in the village. Harry and Hermione had opted to stay in Gryffindor tower.

"What do you mean? That was a disaster! I've just been talking to Draco and I agree, things are far from being patched up. We still don't know what the eastern delegations are going to do and- What?"

Harry was giving his friend a strange look. "What are you talking about? What do the eastern delegations have to do with it?"

Hermione blinked. "What are you talking about?"

Harry nodded back at the grinning Cedric down field from them. He smiled to himself until he looked back at Hermione's grim face. His smile faded. "What?"

"I'm not talking about Cedric and Kurenai's relationship! I'm talking about the meeting; Kakashi getting attacked?!"

"Oh, right," Harry's brow darkened.

"If someone was stupid enough to actually attack him then there are others who want to try. Take out the leader and hold the rest of his people hostage? This could be a really big problem."

"Hermione, you've seen what the guards can do. They can take care of themselves."

"That's not what I'm worried about." She lowered her voice, "my little trick was just a precaution and it gave Kakashi an easy way to respond non-aggressively. But Harry, what if something else happens? Fredrickson already suspects what I did, not to mention the members who are still here. If we defend the guards too much we could be tried for treason."

Harry raised an eyebrow. "Don't you think that's going a bit far?"

"Fredrickson could be a vocal member of a larger group. I hadn't thought that was an issue but Draco says there's been a resistance building since Luna's idea was first proposed. What if our Ministry decides that the Elemental Delegation is our enemy? What if the western ministries disagree? It could mean war. Not to mention if we keep defending our friends when they're considered to be liabilities. What would that make us?

"And how many are there like Fredrickson who hope to exploit this new continent because we can muscle them around with our magic?"

"But we can't," Harry protested. "You know we can't. Our culture is mostly based on tradition, while theirs is on necessity. If it came down to a fight, any kind of fight, we'd lose."

"I know that, and Draco and Luna and all of us who met them at Hogwarts know that. But people like Fredrickson don't know what they're capable of. Their rashness could destroy our chance for peace forever."

"Forever? Kakashi's not that vindictive."

"He isn't, no, but what will his people think? He needs to put them first. This isn't just Kurenai, Ebisu, and Guy anymore. He has their muggles, or civilians I should say, with him; people that have been entrusted to his care."

Harry began to protest again but she cut him off. "I'm not saying we should abandon them, just be careful when you help. Don't draw attention to yourself. You know they can take care of themselves, so let them. Anyway, it all hinges on tomorrow. I hope Kakashi has something impressive planned." She crossed her arms against the night air as they continued walking.

Harry, head heavy with sobering thoughts, nodded in agreement. It all hinged on tomorrow.

Author's Note: well would you look at that? The first story in this trilogy has reacted 101 favorites. That makes me pretty happy. Thank you all!