Unfinished Business: Shattered Pieces

DISCLAIMER: Look at first chapter.
WARNING: Look at first chapter.


Over and Out

For the students of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the days that followed Valentine's Day went by in a dreamy blur. For some, more so than others. BJ Zabini was one such student that felt like he was walking on air. Dancing with James, and then the kiss that followed, had been the greatest moment of his life.

He hadn't wanted it to end.

Unfortunately it had, and as James began pulling away from him, the Slytherin knew that his moment was over. When James had left him standing alone in that small room, BJ was sucked back into reality. James was McLaggen's boyfriend. Pretend or not, BJ didn't like that thought. In fact, the only thing that had dampened his euphoric memory was seeing James with the Head Boy.

Every time, the Ravenclaw wrapped his arms around James, or kissed him, it got BJ's blood boiling. By the week's end, BJ was more determined than ever to wipe that gloating smirk off of McLaggen's face. Beating him in the Quidditch match today was going to put an end to all of BJ's problems.


"So who are you rooting for?" Dominique asked James coyly during breakfast.

"Who do you think?" James responded before an arm draped over his shoulder.

Because of the Slytherin vs Ravenclaw Quidditch match, the days leading up to today were filled with a tense atmosphere. The animosity between BJ and McLaggen had boiled over into their respected teams, which seeped into their houses. Today was no exception. The hostility between the two usually cordial houses had reached an all-time high.

This was no doubt going to be an explosive match.

"No one roots for Slytherin," McLaggen said as he sat down at their table before giving James a kiss. "Wish me luck," he said with a charming smile.

"I wish you all the luck you deserve," James said with a bright smile.

"That's what I like to hear," he smiled before capturing the Gryffindor's lips in a long kiss. "See you after the game," he said and then got up to head back over to his teammates.

"And here I thought you didn't like public displays of affection," Frank teased with a raised brow.

"I guess he needed to be the one doing the displaying before he could appreciate it," Dominique joked.

While the two Gryffindors teased their friend, Molly sat and stared. If she wasn't mistaken, she could have sworn she saw McLaggen glancing at Zabini before kissing James. The moment hadn't sat well with Molly one bit.

When breakfast had ended, it seemed like the whole school had come out to watch. They could barely feel the chill from the winds blowing around them as they waited for the match to begin. But the chill that surrounded the two teams as they came onto the pitch had the whole stands shivering.

"Welcome Quidditch fans, to the second round of Quidditch matches. The first up, two teams that we have been dying to see. Ravenclaw vs Slytherin," Dominique commented. "Slytherin better bring their A game today. With their defeat by Gryffindor in the first match of the season, their team is tied for last with Hufflepuff, a fact they're most definitely not pleased with."

"Are you prepared to lose, Harper," McLaggen smirked as he shoot the Slytherin's hand.

"I'm prepared to wipe that smirk off your face when our team destroys yours," the Slytherin replied, his grip tightening.

"We shall see," McLaggen laughed cockily before they let go and joined their teams.

"Don't make me regret keeping you on the team, Zabini," Harper said to his Keeper.

"Don't worry. Nothing will get past me," BJ said with a determination that pleased his captain.

When the two teams shot up in the air and the snitch was released, Ravenclaw quickly got control of the Quaffle.

"Smith passes the Quaffle to Boot," Dominique commented, "who zigzags between Higgs and Nott. He swoops up and passes it back to Smith. Smith is pinned by Higgs and Pucey. She drops the Quaffle but McLaggen is there to pick up her slack."

The moment McLaggen was in possession of the Quaffle, the whole stand became quite. Everyone wanted to witness the moment when McLaggen and Zabini came up against each other. No one was going to miss a second of this. They all wanted to know who would end up the victor.

"McLaggen zooms past Nott and narrowly misses two Bludgers shooting on either side of him courtesy of the Goyle twins. He's heading for the poles… He's getting ready to toss it…," the whole school seemed to be holding their breath. "He dropped it," she said in surprise, and before she could comprehend what happened, Boot appeared out of nowhere and seized the Quaffle. "Boot shoots and Zabini catches it with ease," she said and everyone in the stands groaned. "I guess the fake out wasn't a match for the new Keeper."

After the failed fake out, Slytherin got a hold of the Quaffle. Within the next few seconds, the first goal was gained as Nott was able to get past Ravenclaw's Keeper. The stands groaned once more. Ravenclaw was in trouble.

It was apparent early on in Ravenclaw's first match of the season that their strength lied with their offense. Their defense, however, was sorely lacking. Their match against Hufflepuff, a team whose defense and offense were outstripped by Ravenclaw's own, had benefited from this. But as BJ thwarted their attacks time and time again, it looked like Slytherin's defense was at a high today.

For Ravenclaw, this was bad.

"Slytherin scores again!" Dominique called out. "Slytherin is wiping the floor with Ravenclaw at 100 to 0. Catching the snitch might be the only way they can get themselves out of this hole."

As if on cue, Corner shot out like lightning as he suddenly spotting the fluttering object.

"And it looks like Corner may have found the snitch. He's zooming circles around the bottom of the field… He's stretching his hand…," the part veela said in anticipation until, out of nowhere, Corner gets knocked to the side and almost loses his grip on his broom. "And Harper comes out of nowhere and slams into Corner. It didn't even look like he was after the snitch. I guess Slytherin is not going to make it easy. This is unbelievable."

That was an understatement.

Every time Corner saw the snitch and went after it, the Slytherin's Seeker got in his way. At one point, he had actually gotten knocked off his broom and had to watch as the snitch hovered several feet above his head. As if that wasn't torment enough, Harper then came within mere inches of the snitch. But instead of catching the flying ball, he merely looked down at the Ravenclaw Seeker and smirked, letting the Snitch fly away. At that moment, Ravenclaw understood.

The Slytherins were merely toying with them.

This wasn't a game. This was torture, and the Slytherins were way too good at it. Just as they scored another goal, Corner managed to finally catch the snitch. It was a moot point since it seemed like Harper wasn't even trying anymore, like he was finally done playing with his mouse and was going to allow it to get the cheese. But it was barely a victory for Ravenclaw as the score ended with a 260 to 150 win to Slytherin.

It was not a good day to be a Ravenclaw.

Over the deafening cheers coming from the Slytherins in the stands, the Ravenclaw team dragged their feet as they retreated back to their locker room.

"How could we have lost?" McLaggen yelled as he slammed his fist into the locker. "Not one of our goals got past Zabini. He was like a wall."

"I thought you said he was taken care of," Smith said as she threw down her jacket. "You said he was a wreck."

"He was. I was sure that kissing Potter before the match had the Slytherin right where we wanted him."

"This is bad," Boot pointed out unnecessarily. "This match puts Slytherin in the lead."

"No shit," McLaggen snapped.

"This plan of yours is starting to fall apart at the seams," Smith said as she folded her arms. "I'm done relying on it. We should start focusing on making our team better, not theirs worse."

"Fine. We'll practice more. But we won't be good enough to get the cup without a little reassurance," the Head Boy insisted. "All I have to do is make sure that my break up with Potter is epic. He's the best Chaser they have on the team. If I completely crush his spirit, he'll be useless to them. With him out of the way, it'll be two against three."

"Then break up with him already," Corner said impatiently.

"Not now. We have to wait. We can't afford for Potter to recover before our match with Gryffindor."

"But you're my boyfriend," the Seeker snapped, "and I'm tired of him pawing at you. It's torture."

"Patience love," McLaggen reassured as he cupped the younger teen's face. "It'll be worth it. You'll see," he said before they kissed.

Just then, there came a knock on the door. Breaking away from his kiss, McLaggen raked his fingers through his hair in frustration. Then he walked over to the door and pulled it open to see James standing on the other side with a sympathetic smile on his face.

"How are you holding up?" the Gryffindor asked the Head Boy. "Things didn't quite go in your favor."

"You noticed?" Corner snapped, his mood foul as he folded his arms.

"Don't mind him," McLaggen intervened. "That match has set us back quite a bit. I'm glad you're here though," he said as he wrapped his arms around James and lowered his head to kiss him.

"I don't think we should," James smiled as he pulled away. "You know how your boyfriend hates seeing me paw at you."

At that one line, everyone froze.

"Sorry?" McLaggen said, shaken.

"You know, Corner," James said as he walked around the Head Boy to face the rest of the Ravenclaw team. "Your boyfriend," he said, tilting his head curiously at the Seeker who was just as shocked as the rest of his team. "Didn't he just finish telling you that he hated me pawing at you? I think kissing leads to pawing so I don't think we should do it in front of him. In fact, I don't think we should be doing it at all."

"James, wait," McLaggen said, thinking fast. "I think you may have misunderstood," he said as he reached for the other boy.

"On second thought," James continued with amusement as he pulled away from the older boy. "I don't think we should be doing anything anymore. You need to be focused for when our teams go up against each other."

At that, James turned to leave. When he pulled the door open, James disappeared into a crowd of students. They were comprised of other Ravenclaws and some of McLaggen's admirers, most likely there to offer support. But no one there looked too pleased to see the team. In fact, they all looked disapproving and disgusted as they faced the Ravenclaw team. Apparently, James hadn't been the only one to overhear their conversation.

"All of this for a cup," one of the onlookers said with disgust.

"You don't use someone like that," another said.

McLaggen rushed to the door and slammed it shut. But just before the door closed on the crowd, the Head Boy spotted BJ standing among them, a triumphant smirk plastered on his face. As he braced himself against the door, his face buried in his hands in defeat, McLaggen understood.

They had been set up.

McLaggen had watched the Slytherin closely since his plan started to unfold. He had seen the Slytherin's emotional state deteriorate, falling right into their trap. He would have bet anything that the Slytherin was a total mess by the time they had stepped foot out into the field. But somehow, someway, the sneaky Slytherin had figured out what was going on and had turned the tables on him.

Things did not look good.

McLaggen looked to his team who had the same expression of being trapped as he did. In one morning, all of his plans had been set ablaze. McLaggen couldn't see a way out of this. He was completely screwed.

How had everything gone so bad so quickly?


By lunch time, the whole school knew what McLaggen and his team had done. Word had even gotten out that the head of their house, Aurora Sinistra, had gotten involved and the whole team had been brought up to see the Headmaster. But when the disgraced team had left the office, students noticed that the Head Boy wasn't among them.

"I knew he was up to no good," Molly fumed as she paced the common room when she found out.

"Not even an hour has gone by and you're already gloating," James teased his cousin.

"I'm not gloating. I'm pissed," Molly snapped as she face the teen. "How dare he use people like that? Poor Zabini."

"Poor Zabini? What about me? I'm your cousin," James said indignantly.

"Well you can take care of yourself, and I did warn you not to get involved with him in the first place," she berated before sitting down on the couch. "Okay, now I'm gloating," she admitted, causing Frank and her cousins to roll their eyes. "Besides, I'm sure you'd be more than happy for Zabini to comfort you," she teased, surprising James.

"What?" James laughed nervously.

"Frank told me about that rose Zabini got you for Valentine's Day," she explained causing James to shoot his friend a death glare. "He says that you keep it by your bed and wait for the petal to fall," she teased.

James folded his arms, huffing at being found out. It wasn't his fault that the flower Zabini had given him was so interesting. It was his very own Enchanted Rose. After James had come back from the ball on Valentine's Day, he had stayed up and watched the bloomed flower, contemplating what he should do about his growing interest in the Slytherin. When the clock had struck midnight however, one of the petals had fallen. Curious, James looked closer and saw words shinning from it.

A petal falls, it read.

It was the beginning of the poem that created the flower. James had blushed when he remembered the rest of the poem. Getting to sleep after that had been a challenge.

When he stayed up late the next night, just out of curiosity of course, the same thing had happened. Only this time, the petal that had fallen the night before had disappeared. A new petal then took its place, revealing the next part of the poem. From that night on, James made sure to stay up late, just to watch the next petal fall.

But he had no idea that someone had been watching him.


As Harry sat on his desk, he couldn't help but feel a little guilty that he had gone in to work that day. It had to be done though. With the Lestrange case finally over with, he needed to be at the office to make sure that all of the loose ends were tied up. When Draco suddenly showed up, Harry's guilt was somewhat alleviated as the blonde captured his lips in a deep kiss.

"Are you sure Luna doesn't mind watching Lily while we're gone," Harry said, his arms slung over Draco's shoulder as they broke their kiss.

"She said she would help us anyway she can until this curse is lifted, didn't she?" Draco asked before pulling Harry back into another kiss.

Unable to argue with the blonde about taking advantage of their friends, Harry simply let himself be lured into his husband's embrace. Harry moaned and let his mind get muddle with arousal as Draco grasped the back of his neck, deepening the kiss.

"Mr. Potter," Harry's assistant's voice sounded in the room. "Mr. Creevey is here to see you."

"Fuck, I completely forgot about him," Harry cursed when he pulled away from the blonde. Grabbing his wand, Harry put it to his throat. "Thank you."

Trying to get out of Draco's embrace after that had been difficult. The moment the wand was out of Harry's hand, Draco had captured his lips in a kiss again. Harry had trouble tearing himself away from the tempting embrace. When he felt the blonde's fingers slide up his back, Harry had almost forgot about the man standing on the other side of the door.

"Draco wait," Harry said as he tried removing the blonde's hands. "Have had to … oh sweet Merlin," he moaned suddenly when Draco started nibbling on his neck.

Finally, Harry was able to get away by shooting the blonde with a tickling charm. When he was out of the laughing blonde's, he removed the spell.

"That was low, Harry," Draco said as he composed himself.

"You left me with no choice," Harry defended, though he couldn't hide the tiny smile as he opened the door.

Dennis Creevey stood waiting on the other side, an amused look on his face.

"Did I come at a bad time?" Dennis asked as he walked inside.

"Yes," Draco was quick to say, causing the Aurors to roll their eyes.

"Of course not," Harry said as he closed the door. "Now that you're here, there are some things I need to go over with you."


After getting teased by his friends about Zabini, James had to get away and think. Rumor throughout the halls was that McLaggen had left school. No one knew when or even if he'd be back. No one even knew how he left and his teammates weren't talking, though few even wanted to talk to them.

There was also talk of appointing someone else as Head Boy. With McLaggen's disappearance, that was looking more and more likely. But James didn't care about any of that. As far as he was concern, McLaggen brought this upon himself. There were going to be casualties when playing with people's emotions. Unfortunately for McLaggen, he never imagined himself as being one of them.

As James stood by the railing of the Astronomy Tower, he thought about all of this. He wondered at how someone could do what McLaggen had done, all for a cup. Quidditch was important to James, enough to make him contemplate going professional. But he would never do what the older boy had done.

Not on purpose anyway.

Which was what really brought James up here. Though he tried to make excuses for himself, the Gryffindor couldn't help but find similarities between what he did, and what McLaggen was trying to do. Though their motives had been different, James was playing a very similar game. While McLaggen had used him to lure Zabini into a bout of depression, James had used Zabini to lure McLaggen into false confidence. As much as he tried to justify it, the moment James found out about McLaggen's scheming and didn't break up with the Ravenclaw, was the moment he had become like him.

"Somehow, I knew I'd find you up here," a voice called out as James looked over the railing of the Astronomy tower.

When James turned to the voice, it was to find the very boy he was thinking of walking towards him.

"I'm sorry," James said as Zabini stopped in front of him.

"What do you have to be sorry about," BJ laughed. "We did it. My team beat McLaggen's without mercy. His team is disgraced now that the whole school knows what he tried to do, and from what I can tell, he's even left the school. Now all we have to look forward to is our date," the Slytherin smiled as he wrapped his arms around the Gryffindor.

"Is that why you did all of this, so I would go out on a date with you?" James asked as he looked up at the other boy.

"No. I did it because McLaggen made a fool out of me and I wanted him to find out what happens when you make a fool out of a Slytherin. And after I told my teammates, they were more than willing to help me."

"You told them?" James asked, mortified as he walked out of BJ's grasp.

"Of course I did. This involved them as well. Don't tell me you didn't tell your teammates, your friends."

"I didn't tell anybody but you. I didn't want anyone to know. The thought of people pitying me was motive enough for me to keep this to myself."

"Then why did you broadcast McLaggen's conversation for the whole stadium to hear?"

"I didn't do that. I assumed you did. Unless one of your teammates did it," James assumed.

"It wasn't any of them. They were at the stadium with me when the spell was cast."

"Then… Who cast it?" James asked curiously.

"Don't know. Don't care," BJ said as he pulled James to him again. "As long as it gives you an out of your relationship with that vermin, I'm happy. Corner's not the only one who hated the pawing," he grimaced, getting James to chuckle.


End of Chapter: Over and Out