13:57

A/N: What what. . .quick update! If you're one of those recent reviewers, you can thank yourself. Coming back and seeing that I have over 100 alerts for this story (!) made me feel kind of like. . .huh. . .you guys seem to like it. . .maybe I should finish it up. So. . .enjoy!

Mercedes was in the common room when Kurt returned later that night. She was curled up in their afghan, in front of the fire. A slight, unlady-like snore issued from her nose. Kurt tried to close the door softly, so that she wouldn't waken, but his best friend had always been a light sleeper, and the moment that the latch clicked she sat up.

"Kurt!" she gasped, breaking into a smile. "James said that you were looking for me earlier."

"Yeah," Kurt said, inching toward the boys' dormitory. "I'll tell you about it later, 'Cedes."

"But. . ."

"I'm gonna sneak in to see Blaine."

He didn't really have a plan, which was far from the Kurt Hummel way. He did, however, have a pair of incredibly bright Ravenclaws who assured him that as long as he wore a shirt he could get dirty, they could get him into the infirmary, despite Madame Pomfrey's vigilance. He'd asked if the shirt should be black: they'd responded that it didn't matter, as long as he wouldn't freak out if it got dirty.

That made him a little nervous, but Artie and Tina had never let him down before, so he figured that he would just have to trust them. It only took a moment to steal one of James shirts (after all, he didn't have anything that was less than fabulous). It was less than five minutes before he was back downstairs.

Mercedes was standing by this point, afghan wrapped around her shoulders. Kurt caught a quick glimpse of a strange expression on her face: something like hurt, but before he could even open his mouth to ask, she'd shut it with a quick click and was smiling at him, close-lipped.

"See you tomorrow," Kurt said, as he slipped out the portrait. He heard a whispered "Good luck" from behind him.

Artie and Tina were waiting for him in the hallway. Artie was grinning outrageously, his thin lips pulls back tightly, while Tina looked a bit nervous. She kept glancing up at Kurt from beneath her lashes, her hands fluttering uselessly about her waist. Kurt had a definite bad feeling about this.

"So, how much do you want to see Blaine?" Artie asked amiably as they walked through the hallways. Kurt considered. He was trying to decide whether it would be better to say "more than life itself" or "pretty important" when Professor Neville walked into their hallway.

Kurt sucked in a quick breath. It was his fifth year at Hogwarts and in all that time, he'd never once gotten in trouble. Not a single detention, or requirement to clean the cafeteria. . .he'd never even lost points for his House, that he could remember. Yet here he was, out of the room after hours.

"Hello, Professor," Artie said amiably. "Tina was just finishing up her patrol, and Kurt and I were helping out."

Professor Neville was a pleasant enough teacher, though Kurt barely knew him, not being a huge fan of all the dirt that came along with Herbology. Still, even his round face looked a little distrustful, as he glaned at Artie and Kurt.

"And why, pray tell, did Ms. Cohen-Chang need help?"

"Well, Blaine's in the infirmary, and Rachel and Rose were working on something for the Tournament," Artie said easily. "Which means poor Tina is the only one on patrol tonight."

Professor Neville seemed to consider that for a moment, before finally nodding his head. "All right," he said. "But be quick about it. Even Prefects need a good night's sleep."

"Of course, Professor Longbottom," Artie said, giving a smart little salute. "Scout's Honor."

Kurt let out a breath he hadn't even realized he was holding as the teacher continued on his way. Tina shuddered a little. Artie, on the other hand, seemed completely unfazed, still grinning a bit as they continued to the infirmary.

The sick, twisting feeling in Kurt's stomach wasn't going away: if anything, it was getting worse, the closer they got to the infirmary without a plan. He was pretty sure that Artie wasn't planning on them just knocking and heading in, but he wasn't really seeing any other options.

"Artie. . .you have a plan, right?"

By this point they'd reached the front of the infirmary. Kurt glanced uneasily at the large oak doors. It wasn't that he was afraid of Madame Pomfrey. . .never let it be said that Kurt Hummel was afraid of anyone. He was just. . .cautious. Because she was pretty terrifying for a nurse, honestly.

Artie glanced at him again, the smile slowly running away from his face. Tina, who had seemed nervous all night long, refused to even look at Kurt anymore. Artie cleared his throat.

"Seriously, Kurt, how far would you go to see Blaine?"

"I don't know what you mean. . ."

"Would you miss class for him?"

"Of course!"

"Would you give up your moisturizing routine for him?"

"Yes."

"Would you. . .die for him?"

Kurt and Tina both whipped their heads sideways to stare at the young Ravenclaw. He promptly broke into giggles. "Sorry," he gasped. "It's just. . .I'm not going to kill you. . .God, the look on your faces. . ."

Tina sighed. "Artie, just do it. It's going to hurt him a whole lot less if he doesn't know it's coming."

Wait. . .Kurt glanced at his friend. Hurt? What's coming?

He turned around just in time to see Artie's fist headed en route to his face before his world exploded into pain.

Xxx

"Kurt? Kurt, are you okay?"

No, he wanted to say. He absolutely was not okay. His nose hurt a ridiculous amount, his skin felt dry, and his hair felt oily. He could tell that he was lying beneath cheap sheets instead of the fine Egyptian cotton that he had brought from home and oh, did he mention, his nose hurt.

Instead of saying any of those things, Kurt opened his eyes.

Everything was blurry at first, that strange, fuzzed vision that he got whenever he tried on Artie's glasses. Everything was varying shades of white, fading into one another. He frowned, and tried to focus on the spots of green in the midst of all the white.

Slowly his eyes focused, and he found himself staring straight up into a pair of wide, hazel eyes, rimmed by thick black fringe. Little specks of brown and gold saturated the green. Suddenly Kurt's nose hurt a little less.

Blaine said back with a nervous chuckle, and patted Kurt's hand. "Glad to see you're back with the living," he said. Kurt shook his head, and slowly sat up.

He was, sure enough, in the infirmary, just as Artie had promised, although he was going to have a long talk with his friend about what constituted an appropriate plan (number one topic: giving a friend a concussion and possible broken nose was not an appropriate plan). Blaine was sitting beside him, perched on his own hospital bed. Kurt looked at him critically, but the other boy seemed to be fully recovered from the fight with Jesse. Who . . .wait a minute, where was. . . but there was a mound of perfectly waving hair, lying on the bed to the other side of Blaine. So they were all here.

Blaine was still staring at him, and Kurt couldn't help but blush at the intensity of the other boy's gaze. But that's all that the other boy was doing. Just sitting there and staring. Which was kind of weird.

"Do I have something on my face?" Kurt asked, lifting a hand. Blaine laughed, reached out, and grabbed his hand.

"No," he chuckled. "Just. . .your nose is kind of. . ."

Kurt gasped, and despite Blaine's best efforts, his hands flew up to his nose. He probed delicately, wincing at the pain elicited by even a brief, gentle touch. It was obviously swollen, tender and, he had no doubt, a strange new color.

"Oh Dumbledore," Kurt gasped, shutting his eyes tightly and lying back on the bed. "I must look absolutely monstrous. Don't look at me Blaine, I. . ."

But the other boy just laughed again, the soft sound almost disappearing in the stillness of the infirmary. "You look adorable," Blaine insisted, which was enough to make Kurt crack open an eye again. "So don't worry about that. But are you okay? Who did this to you? Was it Karofsky again?"

"No," Kurt said quickly, hearing the barely repressed anger in his friend's voice. "It was. . .um. . .Artie. . ."

Blaine frowned. "But I thought you guys were friends."

"We are," Kurt said quickly. "It's just. . .never mind. It's embarrassing."

Blaine's lips were tugging slowly, as though he were fighting a smile. He walked over and climbed into Kurt's bed, sitting directly beside him. Butterflies erupted in Kurt's stomach as their thighs brushed, their shoulders touched. He glanced over at Blaine from beneath his eyelashes, trying to be unobtrusive and obviously failing. Blaine was still just staring at hi.

"Come on," Blaine cajoled. "Tell me. I won't laugh. I promise."

Kurt considered. It really was rather humiliating, and kind of desperate, letting someone punch him in the face just so that he could visit his not-boyfriend in the infirmary. And he really, really didn't want Blaine to think that he was one of those desperate, needy people – think he was Rachel Berry, in other words. But Blaine was still just staring at him, and he couldn't see a way to deflect the conversation.

"Madame Pomfrey wouldn't let me in to visit you," Kurt confessed, his voice low in the hope that Blaine wouldn't really hear him. "So I asked Artie to sneak me in and. . .um. . ." he was cut off when Blaine's shoulders started to shake. Suspciciously, he glared at the other boy, whose lips were pressed tightly together, eyes closed, but who's entire body was rocking in a very suspicious way.

"You promised not to laugh!"

"I'm sorry," Blaine gasped, full-out laughter escaping the moment he opened his mouth. "It's just too. . .I mean. . .you got punched in the face just to see me?"

"Yes," Kurt said grumpily, crossing his arms. "Though I can't imagine why, if all you're going to do is laugh at me."

That instantly quieted Blaine down. A minute later his hand reached out and clutched Kurt's again, this time intertwining their fingers. "I'm sorry," Blaine said, his voice irritatingly sincere. "I shouldn't have laughed. That's actually. . .that's the sweetest thing anyone's ever done for me."

Darn it. Now Kurt's blushing again, and it's all because Blaine sounds so genuine, and they're holding hands, and Blaine is just a warm, comforting presence beside him and. . .maybe he should skip out on the moisturizing routine once and a while. If his skin weren't so perfect, it wouldn't turn such a perfect shade of tomato.

"So. . ." Blaine said, after a long moment had passed. "Finn and Sam were going to investigate. And then when I didn't see you, I guess I figured. . .did you. . ."

"Yes," Kurt said hurriedly. "They caught up with me on my way here. And I wanted to come in, but they were wearing fedoras, and they offered me one, so. . ."

And then he told Blaine everything. He told him about the walk through the passage, about overhearing Blais and Sue. He told him about the Elder wand, what Rose had told him, and what Rachel had figured out. Blaine just sat there throughout the entire thing, chewing at his lip.

"So Jesse wants the Elder wand," he said, finally. "It's not the end of the world."

Kurt blinked at that. No, it really wasn't. It wasn't like Jesse was a power-hungry Dark Lord, nor was Blais, for that matter. They probably only wanted the power of the wand to increase the allure of fashion, or bad teen pop music. When put that way, it didn't sound nearly as menacing as it had, hidden in a dark tunnel beneath the Forbidden Forest.

"Then again," Blaine continued, still apparently just talking to himself. "That wand has a violent history. If it's unearthed, then it's out there for somebody worse to get ahold of. Harry Potter hid it for a reason."

Kurt just nodded again. Then a thought came to him. "Blaine. . .they want Jesse st. James because he can do Musical Lyricism. But you are just as good as him. . .maybe better. What if you grabbed that Portkey? What if you got the Elder wand?"

The other boy froze. When Kurt turned to look at him, his face was deathly white, and he just kept shaking his head. "I don't. . .I don't think that's such a good idea," he said finally. "Kurt, I'm not a Gryffindor, I'm a Hufflepuff. Daring deeds aren't. . .I'm afraid of flying on a broom, I couldn't possibly. . ."

Kurt shook his head. "Blaine, you are one of the bravest people I know! You faced down Karofsky and Jesse. You've succeeded at all of the tasks, you. . ."
Blaine was still shaking his head. "I would never have finished that Second Task if it weren't for you. I just. . .I can't, Kurt. Maybe Rachel can, she's a Slytherin, or maybe. . ."

Kurt just squeezed the other boys' hand. He felt bad for Blaine, he did, but a little of the hero worshipping was disappearing. In the past five years that he'd spent crushing on his brother's best friend, he'd never imagined Blaine scared or backing down from a task. He'd always seemed so confident, so controlled, but here he was practically shaking at just the thought of grabbing a powerful piece of magic.

Kurt understood, he did. He could still remember his own Sorting, putting the hat on his head. The words it had spoken. . .

Ambitious and sly enough for Slytherin, witty and intelligent enough for Ravenclaw, and with a fierce loyalty that would do you well in Hufflepuff. Still, there will come a day when none of those things will matter half as much, so for your own sake I'd best put you in. . .

GRYFFINDOR.

It didn't seem like such a big deal, to take the wand. But there was no way that he was going to force that on Blaine, who was still shaking just a little.

"It's okay," he said. "I'll talk to Rachel about it, or maybe Professor Schuester."

Blaine was shaking his head. "We'll talk to Mr. Potter about it," he said definitively. "He's coming for the feast before the Third Task. We'll talk to him about it. He'll know what to do."

Kurt just nodded absently. He'd forgotten about the feast, which was in less than a week's time. He'd have to work on that as soon as he got back to the dorm. He'd have to find appropriate dress robes, and decide how to style his hair, and oh God, Finn, how was he ever going to get that oaf of his brother into anything remotely resembling fashion, and –

Omph. His thought process was abruptly derailed as a pair of warm, chapped lips pressed against his own. Kurt's eyes flew open only to see dark butterfly eyelashes and a smattering of freckles across olive skin. Oh, he thought, closing his eyes again. Oh, that was nice. . .

As quickly as it began, it was over, Blaine just squeezing his hand again before hopping back over to the other bed. Kurt took a moment to even out his breathing, before turning to glance at the other boy. Blaine was lying back on his bed, eyes closed, his lips curved in just the slightest of smiles.

Xxx

Everyone was back in Musical Lyricism the next day, although Blaine wasn't sitting in his usual chair beside Finn and Sam, but rather next to Kurt. Tina didn't seem to mind being displaced. . .she was able to sit beside Mike now, and they kept exchanging brief, chaste kisses. Mercedes, meanwhile, kept glancing over at Kurt with one eyebrow raised. He felt a little badly that he still hadn't been able to talk to her, but he was sure they'd have time for a nice lady-chat before dinner. . .

It was hard to be overly concerned about that, however, when Blaine kept holding his hand, and shooting sideways glances at him.

"All right, guys!" Professor Schuester said exuberantly as he walked in, late as ever. "We're going to have two guests with us today. . ."

Sure enough, right behind him walked Madame Pomfrey and Blais Zabini.

"After the events of last class it was determined that a little more. . .er. . .supervision might be necessary."

"Please," Jesse st. James said, running a hand through his hair. "I hardly even broke a sweat."

"Really?" Sam said, at the same time that Finn said "that's not what it looked like when you were crying for your mommy!"

"Settle down, settle down," Professor Schuester said. "We're just going to do a simple spell today, let everyone calm down from all the tension. Today we're going to do a Summoning."

"Accio sheet music!" Finn yelled triumphantly. Even Rachel giggled a little at that, as the pages flew into each students head. Good-naturedly, Professor Schuester inclined his head.

"Admittedly, this spell isn't so useful for that kind of summoning," Professor Schuester agreed. "Actually. . .Rachel, I think you might enjoy this."

For the first time Rachel (and, for that matter, the rest of the students) glanced down at the music in their hands. Most of the boys just looked confused, but Kurt's face broke into a broad smile, while Rachel actually screamed in joy, before running to the front of the room.

"This is. . .this is fantastic," she gushed. "Professor, I just never thought that you would ever recognize the true value in such seminal Broadway classics!"

"Right. . .um. . .so, this spell is typically used to summon things from far away, things that can't just be pulled and dragged along. People, for instance. . ."

"Oh, I don't know about that," Jesse drawled. "Blaine seemed to come just fine with a simple summoning charm. . ."

Kurt balled his hands up into fists, but Blaine gently untangled one to slip his fingers in. Professor Schuester just continued as though he hadn't been interrupted.

"Or sometimes objects that are very large, or powerful enough to resist a summoning charm. So, Rachel, why don't you try inserting a person's name in, and see if it works."

"Absolutely, Professor Schuester, I would be honored!"

Uh-oh. Kurt totally recognized that glint in his friend's eyes. Though she had an innocent expression on her face, and was peering intently at the music, he had a very good idea of what she was planning. He glanced over at Finn, who looked clueless as ever.

"Oh, it's turned so cold, it's past your bedtime

You've played the day away and soon it will be night"

Rachel could be beyond irritating at times, but Kurt had to admit that she had a truly breathtaking voice. Everyone in the class was staring at her with rapt attention.

"Come to me, Finn, the light is fading

Don't you see the evening star appearing?

Come to me and rest against my shoulder"

Before she could even continue with the song there was a slight popping noise, and then Finn disappeared. A moment later he reappeared, standing now beside Rachel, who looked immensely pleased with herself. Blais Zabini nodded his head, apparently satisfied by whatever he'd seen, and walked out the door. Blaine glanced at Kurt, who nodded to show that he'd seen it, too.

It was pretty clear what song Zabini expected Jesse to sing, to find the Elder Wand.

A/N: Oh, Rachel. How I do love thee.

COMING SOON: The Tournament Feast with Harry Freakin' Potter! Meanwhile, Mercedes gets a girlfriend, Finn grows a pair and Rachel comes up with a plan (sorry, Blaine, you're just too much of a wimp!) Also. . .the THIRD TASK! Bum bum bum.