Chapter 31: High Flying

January, Seventh Year

The Great Hall was buzzing. It always did after people got back from holidays. Santana tugged lightly on my little finger and I smiled across at her. She smiled back, her eyes crinkling, and we walked together to the Hufflepuff table.

"Hey Lopez, over here!"

I stumbled slightly at hearing Puck's voice call from our left, the familiar feeling of dread running through me - but then I remembered. They were done. He knew about us. Santana was hesitating, looking at me to see if it was okay. I loved her for not assuming. I gave her a tiny nod, and we changed course towards the Slytherin table instead.

"Shove over, Karofsky. Be nice if other people could sit on this bench besides you," she snapped, knocking roughly at his shoulder. He scowled, and she scowled back, and for a moment I thought they were going to start duelling in the middle of the Great Hall. But then he moved, and I was reminded of the power she had over him from her quidditch captaincy. I hoped that never changed, because I really didn't like the way he looked at her. She stood back, letting me sit first, but I moved in next to Karofsky so she could sit by Puck. I didn't mind them being friends. I'd rather they were friends than she got into a fight with Karofsky.

"Hey Britt, good Christmas?" Puck asked as I was reaching for some cereal. I turned my head and saw him smiling at me. That was strange. Normally he didn't pay that much attention to me. Maybe I was just too used to feeling upset as he fawned over Santana to notice him being friendly.

"Great, thanks. You?"

"Good, Gabe was being a prick as usual though. Hey, did you guys hear about Ryerson?"

He was addressing both of us now, and I turned to look at Santana. She was shaking her head. We hadn't really had much time to catch up on Hogwarts gossip when we'd got back yesterday night - Santana had dragged me straight to the Room of Requirement. It had been kind of hard sneaking about at home. Chloe kept running into my room trying to catch us kissing, and one time it had been a bit too close. And then whenever we went round to Santana's her abuela started going on about Puck and jobs at the Ministry - at least, that's what Santana said she was talking about. She always spoke in Spanish even though Santana replied in English and told her to speak in English too. I knew she didn't like me, I just wasn't really sure why.

"They finally caught him selling jara, he's suspended. Apparently his stash is still hidden somewhere in the greenhouses," Puck explained, his eyebrows wiggling in Santana's direction. She was grinning, but shaking her head.

"Sorry Puck, I don't have time. Transfiguration and Charms tests this week and I barely studied over the holidays."

"Ahh, get a bit too distracted?" he asked with a devilish grin, his eyes darting to me for a second.

"No need to be ambiguous, Puck. We all know Santana can't go two weeks without sneaking round to yours."

My head swivelled to locate the source of the lilting voice, but I knew who it was already. Niamh continued, daintily eating a slice of toast as she did.

"Still don't know why you put up with her, there's plenty of other girls more than willing."

Santana was tensing next to me and I slipped my hand on the table to take hers - also conveniently stopping her from reaching any further for her wand. But Puck replied before Santana could.

"Actually, Santana and I are just friends now."

He said it so calmly, and Niamh just raised an eyebrow in response, that I thought that might be the end of it. But of course Santana couldn't let that pass.

"Wow, Nia, throwing yourself at guys when we haven't even been back a day? I guess that boyfriend isn't as perfect as you always say."

"At least I have a boyfriend and not just an occasional fuckbuddy," Niamh shot back immediately, her expression shifting to a scowl at the use of the much-hated nickname. "Although I guess you don't even have that now. What are you going to do?"

"I don't know, maybe concentrate on getting decent grades so I can get a job when I leave here and not just aim to marry a rich guy and live off him?"

"Yeah, like that's going to be an achievement with your family where they are. You could be stupider than Brittany and still walk into whatever job you fancied in the Ministry."

My hand loosened without meaning to as the sting registered and suddenly Santana was standing with her wand waving across the table.

"Whoa, Santana no!" Puck bellowed, yanking her back by the waist and reaching for her wand. I tried to help as well but I just ended up falling against Karofsky. Santana was screeching in Spanish as she struggled with Puck to aim her wand at Niamh and I could already see Professor Schuester running over. I tried again, lifting my legs over the bench to wrap my arms around Santana's left arm, stepping in front of her as I did.

"Santana, come on, you're gonna get in trouble-"

"I don't fucking care, she can't talk about you like that-"

"Please, Santana, I don't want to be alone tonight while you're in detention!"

Her struggling lessened considerably and I took the opportunity to step closer to her so she had to meet my eyes. Puck was still holding on from behind but I ignored him.

"Santana, stop."

She stopped, breathing heavily as I released her wand hand. I nodded at Puck to let go of her as well. He looked dubious but stepped away, hovering for a few seconds to make sure she wasn't about to relaunch herself at Niamh before moving around us back to his seat.

"Come on, let's go," I whispered, nudging her gently towards the double doors.

"Good to see someone's got you on a leash!" Niamh called from behind, and I had to push heavily on Santana to stop her swivelling around again.

"Ignore her."

She made a growling noise in her throat but carried on towards the Entrance Hall with me right behind her. I kept us walking until we were on the path to the Slytherin common room before stopping, and she spun around.

"Why'd you stop me? She can't say that about you!"

"She was just doing it to annoy you," I pointed out with a sigh. I was used to people saying that stuff about me anyway. I didn't like it, but I didn't like it even more when it got Santana into trouble.

She muttered something in Spanish under her breath as she paced back and forth, before turning back to step right in front of me.

"You're not, you know?" she said quietly. "You're not stupid. All those people who say you are just don't get you."

"Santana, it's fine. I get that I'm not as clever as other people-"

"It's not fine, and you are!"

I sighed again, my eyes wandering away from her to look down the corridor. I didn't like this talk at all. I knew Santana was only trying to be nice, but it was just reminding me of all the things people said about me when they thought I wasn't listening – or just didn't care that I was there.

"Okay, you know what makes you clever? Those flowers. You made that spell last for four years."

I shook my head.

"That's not clever, that's just… that's just making a spell last a long time. Don't try and pretend I'm clever when I'm not, we both know I'm not. You're what clever is - getting great exam marks and being able to talk fast without sounding like an idiot," I muttered, staring at the ground. "You never mix up your words or forget what day it is. I can't do any of that." I paused, Niamh's words and their implication echoing in my head. "What if - what if she's right? What if I can't get a job because I'm too stupid? What am I supposed to do then?"

I felt a cool palm press to my cheek, and I reluctantly lifted my head to look at her.

"You knew I loved you. You made me brave. You can't get much cleverer than that, Britt. That kind of thing is way more important than memorising facts for exams. And what about all that muggle stuff you know? You explain it so well, I'd never understand any of it without you. You know you're the reason I got onto NEWT Muggle Studies. Professor Holliday's great, but she can't put things straight like you can."

"You… really?" I whispered. I always figured she'd just put up with me rambling about muggle things. I never thought it might actually be helpful.

She gazed back at me confidently.

"Really. You're smart, Britt. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise, okay? They just don't know clever when they see it."

I hesitated, but then I nodded. I still knew I wasn't smart like other people. But if I really had helped Santana, maybe I wasn't as stupid as everyone said.

"Good. Now come on, let's grab some food from the kitchens," she said, reaching out for my hand. I extended my little finger, but she grabbed my whole hand instead and threaded her fingers with mine. The gesture sent ripples of warmth up my arm and I smiled widely at her.

"Do you think they have chocolate croissants?"

"When do they ever not have chocolate croissants?" she pointed out with a grin. She squeezed my hand lightly and we set off together to the elf kitchens.

I'd never had such a stressful first week back before. I knew NEWTs were close, and I knew we needed to be thinking about jobs too, but it was like every single teacher was reminding us of everything we had to do and making out like their subject was more important than all the others. Professor Sylvester was terrifying as well, talking about everything out in the world that we might have to use defensive magic against and how it wasn't just a Hogwarts class but important for real life too. For a few days I started checking round corners for chimaeras and lethifolds, until Santana assured me they wouldn't actually get inside Hogwarts with all the protection spells on it. Even so, I really needed to learn how to do a patronus properly, and not just for the exam. Quinn had already managed to make her sphinx twice in class.

I managed to scrape through my Care of Magical Creatures test, but I only just got an A. It's much harder than I thought it would be, because now we're always studying the really dangerous or far away creatures and there's hardly any practical work. That was how I got such a good mark in my OWL, because it was mostly practical and about looking after the creatures, and I'm great at that. But I just can't concentrate when I'm trying to study the content and uses of acromantula venom.

Luckily Santana didn't get into any more arguments with Niamh - mostly because I made a point to seat us at the Hufflepuff table all the meals I could. On Friday lunchtime we were in our usual spots when Puck approached.

"Are you lost, Puck?" Becky demanded, staring up at him as he slipped down next to me.

He grinned, giving her a little salute.

"Don't worry Becky, I'll leave you alone in a sec."

She rolled her eyes but returned to eating her toast as Puck turned his attention to us with a wide grin.

"Stressed yet? Teachers going on, setting way too much homework? Too many tests?"

"Your point, Puck?" Santana asked with a raised eyebrow.

"My point is that we all need to relax a bit, yeah?"

"There's a party tonight?" I asked, sitting up a little straighter. A party would be great. I just needed to have some fun. Nights with Santana were great, but I was in just the right mood for a party.

"Not quite." He lowered his voice more and shuffled closer so his leg was pressed against mine. I might have been annoyed, but he'd just pushed me closer to Santana really. "You remember what I said about Ryerson's stash?"

"You got it?" Santana hissed from beside me. I tried to remember the conversation from the start of the week, but I wasn't completely sure what they were talking about it. Puck was nodding though, so obviously Santana had guessed right.

"There's not as much as I thought, so we're keeping it quiet. You girls, Karofsky, Azimio, Mike. Some Gryffindor girl Lauren, 'cause she helped find it. You in?"

"Definitely. What time, where?"

"Slytherin boys' changing room, midnight."

"Okay, we'll be there."

I let Santana talk, but I still wasn't entirely sure what was going on.

"What about Quinn?" I asked as Puck moved to stand.

He snorted, and shook his head.

"No chance, prefect remember?"

"But Mike's a prefect," I pointed out.

"Yeah, but Mike's not a goody-two-shoes. He's not going to report us. Anyway, I'll see you later alright? Don't be late or there might not be any left," he added with a wink as he left.

I stared after him as he gambled back across to the Slytherin table, then turned to Santana.

"Quinn never reported our parties before."

Santana laughed. "Very true. Can't quite see her being down with this though. Don't worry about it Britt, she can't feel left out if she doesn't know about it."

"I… that's not-" I started, but she was already reaching for her bag and rising from the table.

"Come on Britt, you don't want to be late do you? Remember that muggle computer guy's coming in?"

I leapt up from my seat at the reminder, bumping my knees against the bottom of the table. I'd just have to remember to ask Santana later.

"I still don't get what we're doing," I whispered to Santana as we crept across the lawn towards the quidditch pitch.

"Shh!" she hissed, glancing back to give me a reassuring smile before continuing.

I followed her silently, enjoying the feel of her hand in mine. It wasn't until we were right next to the stadium, walking round the outside to the Slytherin entrance, that she gave me a proper response.

"You know why Ryerson got suspended, right?"

"No."

She stopped, spinning around to squint at me.

"No? Really?"

I shrugged, leaning against the Ravenclaw banner hung on the wall to my left.

"I mean he wasn't very good at teaching. But neither's Professor Schuester and he's not suspended."

"No, that's got nothing to do with it. He was dealing jara. You know how Figgins is about that."

I frowned, thinking back, but Santana took my silence for further confusion.

"Don't you remember the stuff Puck was passing around at that last party before Christmas? But we left early so we didn't have any?" My stomach was starting to feel a bit like a stone, sinking lower and lower as I thought back to that time in Professor Ryerson's office. "…Jaraia root?" she prompted.

"No, no I remember," I told her. "I know what it is. I've… I've had it before."

Her eyes widened. I turned to examine the Ravenclaw banner so I wouldn't have to look at her.

"When?" she demanded. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't realise what it was till now. He put it in my tea. I was crying, and confused, and he put it in my tea to help me think clearer. The day I broke up with Mike."

I didn't mention what else happened that day, because I knew she'd remember on her own. The day I found the word for how I felt about her, and she refused to let me say it. The day she broke my heart for the first time. I risked another glance at her to find her still staring at me, her mouth in an 'o' shape.

"You weren't drunk…?"

I shook my head, not really knowing what else to say.

"…Oh."

She didn't know what to say either. At least we were the same.

"What's it like?" she whispered after another few moments of silence, stepping closer to me. I looked into her face and found nerves there for the first time. I thought back to that day in fifth year, and was surprised at how easy it was to remember.

"It's… it's like everything that's not important disappears," I said, trying to work out how to explain it. "In your head, and all around. It's harder to move because your body won't react fast enough. But it's so easy to think. Everything makes sense. You just might forget some important things, because they don't seem important at the time. And you feel it really fast."

"Okay… well, we'll just have to look out for each other, right? Make sure we don't do anything stupid. It's not like I'm going to forget you," she pointed out, apparently trying to reassure herself.

I stepped forward to peck her lightly on the lips.

"It's okay, Santana. I won't forget you either," I promised.

She nodded again, giving me a brief smile before turning to continue towards the Slytherin changing rooms. It wasn't that much further anyway, and it was only a minute later that we were ducking through the entrance. I'd only been in the Slytherin part of the stadium once, but that was the girls' changing rooms. Santana led me straight past that door to the next one. She pressed her ear to it once as she disentangled our hands to link little fingers instead, then pushed the door open.

It smelt really bad. The others were all already there. Puck was hovering over a cauldron while one of the Gryffindor beaters stirred it and kept pushing him away - that must be Lauren. To the side, Mike, Karofsky and Azimio were drinking cans of something. They were charming some old broomsticks around the perimeter of the room – although Karofsky's kept bumping into the wall and was lagging well behind the others. He made up for it by jerking it across to get in the other brooms' way when they overtook. He'd never been great at spells, but I was sure he was getting worse.

"Took you long enough!" Puck called across the room as I pushed the door shut behind us.

Santana rolled her eyes as she marched forward. I followed, our hands swinging slightly as we walked.

"Schuester was wandering near Hufflepuff, would you rather we led him straight here? What's with the potion anyway, can't we just take it straight?"

"Sure, Satan, if you wanna break your teeth chewing it," Lauren said, reaching beside her for a stack of cups. "I'd rather mix it in with some firewhiskey myself."

I reached out to press my free hand lightly to Santana's shoulder to stop her saying anything she shouldn't. I didn't want Lauren poisoning her or something because she couldn't keep her mouth shut. Luckily she turned to roll her eyes at Puck instead, who was grinning and just shrugged.

"Alright people, it's ready. Drink up," Lauren announced, gesturing to the circle of cups on the table next to her and then starting to down hers without waiting.

Santana and I reached for cups at the same time, then she turned to me as the boys hurried over too and started jostling for the cups with the most in. I noticed Santana had taken the one with the least, and I squeezed her finger again and smiled.

"We're gonna look out for each other, right?"

"Right," she agreed, her voice a little breathier than normal as she stared into her cup. I looked into mine as well, and found a dark red liquid - much darker than firewhiskey normally was. "On three?" she asked. I looked back up at her and nodded. "Okay. One… two… three!"

I lifted the cup and drank it as fast as I could. It burnt less than firewhiskey normally did, but there was a weird aftertaste I hadn't noticed when I had it with the tea. I dropped the cup to the floor without thinking as I looked to Santana for a reaction from her. She was frowning, staring into her cup.

"What is it? Are you okay?" I whispered, stepping closer. I reminded myself that it was my job to look after Santana. She was the only thing that mattered now. Even if I started thinking about other things by accident, I had to look after her.

"That tasted good!" she exclaimed, spinning towards the table and peering into the cauldron.

"Hey! Get off!" Lauren objected, shoving her by the shoulder from the other side of the table.

I hurried forward and grabbed Santana, wrapping my arms around her.

"Don't do that!" I shouted. I gripped Santana tighter. I had to look after her. Lauren couldn't push her. That wasn't allowed. "That's against the rules!"

Lauren was saying something else, but she was looking kind of blurry. I turned to Santana instead. She was closer. She was clearer. I could see Santana. That was good, I needed to see her to look after her. She was surrounded by green. Everything around was green.

"Why's it green?" I whispered loudly, moving in so I was hugging Santana properly. This was good. If I was hugging her, I was looking after her. She was laughing - that was good too - but I couldn't hear her words. "Say again," I mumbled, turning my head so my ear was right in front of her mouth.

"It's not green, it's silver."

"Silver? Not it's not!"

"Silver! Silver, everywhere! Can't you see it?" she asked.

I turned, pulling her arms around me from behind and holding them there, leaning into her as I looked around the room. I saw something that wasn't green.

"Hey! Is that silver?" I called, pointing to the thing that was moving. No, it wasn't silver. It was blue. Why were there so many colours? It was easier when it was just green. I felt behind me, making sure Santana was still there. She was the important thing. The blue moved closer, and I recognised it. "Mike! The blue, it's Mike!" I shouted. Santana was laughing against my neck and I started laughing too, reaching out with my arms as he stumbled closer.

"Britt-an-tana!" he yelled, falling into me and hugging me tight.

I hugged him with one arm, but put my other arm behind me to hug Santana too. She couldn't feel left out. I felt something wet on my neck and realised I was being kissed - but who? Who was it? Santana? Blue Mike? She wouldn't like it if he was kissing me. I turned in the direction of the kisses to try and see, but my feet felt so heavy and I fell. Something around my waist caught me, and then I was being pulled back up to face Santana, who was grinning. She was grinning so wide. Her smile was so pretty. She was so pretty. And her eyes. More than pretty, really. She was just beautiful. And she was the most important thing in the world. I had to remember that, but I didn't know how I could possibly forget.

"QUIDDITCH!"

The cry came from across the room and I almost fell again searching for it. There was more blurred green, and Blue Mike, and then some brown. Was the brown a person as well? It was moving, it must be.

"Come on, hurry!" the voice shouted. There were long things attached to its arm. Was it a monster? Was it one of those creatures Professor Sylvester had been talking about? I had to protect Santana!

"B-Britt, calm… s'okay," Santana voice came from behind me, and then I felt her arms again, still around me. I clutched at them, pressing back into her so she stumbled a few steps back before steadying us both. I should have known where she was! "It's… it's fun, okay? Or it must be fun. Quidditch is always fun. Right?"

She needed reassuring. I could do that. "Right."

"So let's go!"

She pushed forward and I tripped, but she held me up as we moved together towards the door. Quidditch, okay. That was what Santana wanted, to play quidditch. Something was in my hand. I peered at it, squinting, then gasped when I realised it was a broom. This was great! Quidditch with brooms! We were running, and this time I didn't trip. I ran right next to Santana - or as close as I could get - and then it was cold, and I realised we were outside. The green was gone, and it was just dark around. Santana was next to me still, getting on her broom, so I did the same, sad I had to let go of her hand to fly. Then we were off.

It was colder. It was like the cold was running into me, and the faster I flew the faster it ran. But I didn't go too fast because Santana was my job. I flew next to her. She was laughing again, flying in circles, so I flew in circles too.

"San… Santana, S'tana," I called, reaching out with one hand to try and grab her. My broom twisted and I almost fell, but then she was right beside me, pushing me back on. I found a handful of her top and pulled her closer, hunting out her lips. I couldn't find them at first. She kept laughing as I kissed her ear, and hair, and nose, and then I found them and kissed her properly, and she just kissed me back instead of laughing. There were hands in my hair and I hoped it was her hands, because if it was anyone else's that would be kind of weird. I opened my eyes to pull back from her face, then shuffled my broom closer and carefully lifted a leg. The cold was running into me again so I reached out for Santana to hold me steady. She was talking, but I concentrated on my leg. Then my other leg. Then… yes.

"This s'better," I hummed against her lips as I settled on her broom facing her, my legs dangling over hers and my arms around her waist. We were kissing again when something loud and screechy sounded from below. Santana pulled back with a gasp but I tried to lean in again. She wouldn't let me though. I frowned, moving my kisses to her neck instead.

"Britt… Britt we gotta go. Down, I mean. We need to be down."

"But why…?" I sighed, continuing to kiss her.

"I think… I think someone's hurt."

I frowned more, pulling back to look at her face. She wasn't laughing at all now. It wasn't a joke. Then there was a shout, and another shout. I didn't know what the first word was, but the second was Santana's name.

"Okay, okay. I… uh…"

I tried to turn to look for my broom, but everything started spinning.

"W-wait, no. We'll just… go down. Both of us."

"What? But that was-"

"Hold on," she ordered.

I leaned into her, tightening my arms and burying my head into the crook of her neck, feeling the cold start to run again as we moved. There was a bump, and then she was moving again. Not the broom, though, just her.

"Let go, Britt."

I lifted my head to squint over her shoulder and saw dark green again. The colours were a bit clearer now, with blue and yellow on the stadium wall I was staring at.

"Santana, hurry up!"

That was Puck. Right? I moved to the side and tumbled straight off the broom onto the grass, but Santana was already helping me up and pulling me in the opposite direction. I hung onto her as we ran, and then I saw Puck and Azimio and Mike and Lauren all standing on the side of the pitch.

"Took your fucking time!" Azimio yelled. He was kneeling, I saw, not standing. Then I saw something else on the floor with him. I leaned forward, Santana holding me up, and gasped when I realised it was Karofsky, not moving.

"What happened?" Santana demanded, dropping down to the floor as well next to him. I followed, trying to straighten my head as I did, but everything was still kind of blurred and I felt dizzy.

"He flew straight into one of the towers."

"What're we gonna do?" Mike asked. I could hear him breathing really loud.

"Teacher," I whispered. That's who we always got when someone hurt themselves in quidditch practice.

"We'll get expelled," Lauren replied immediately.

"But… but he's hurt! He's…"

I reached out to prod his arm. Nothing happened.

"Someone do magic!"

Mike turned away, muttering under his breath with his head in his hands, his shoulders moving really quickly up and down. I stared at him for a moment before turning back to look around the circle of people.

"We can't," Santana whispered. I shuffled around to face her, reaching out for her hand straight away when I saw her face. She was upset. I was doing terribly at looking after her. "It'll go wrong."

"W-what?"

Puck groaned, his wand dropping to the ground next to me as he turned away as well.

"Remember, Britt. Think. They told us. It's dangerous. That's what they always say, doing magic and jara. Things go wrong. We could hurt him worse."

"Then what do we do?" I asked. I could my voice was higher than usual as I stared at Santana, hanging onto her by her shoulders now. I wasn't sure when I'd moved my hands.

"I don't… I can't think… Everything feels weird."

"Think, Santana. Try really hard," I said, gripping her shoulders tighter.

She nodded, her eyes on the ground. Her breathing slowed, and it helped me breathe a bit calmer too.

"Kurt."

"What?"

"No!" Azimio bellowed, lumbering forward. I leaped up in front of Santana, one hand held out to stop him. He stumbled to a halt, staring at my hand in confusion. Santana brushed against my back as she stood.

"He's been trained. At St. Mungo's. He'll know what to do. Lauren, can you get me in?"

"Yep."

"Okay, let's go!"

"Wait!" I called, spinning around to reach out for Santana. "You can't go alone!

"What?"

She was moving a little from side to side, and I struggled to focus.

"We look out for each other, remember? I have to go with you."

"Britt, it'll be quicker if it's just me and Lauren-"

"No, n-no, I have to come," I insisted, stepping even closer. I couldn't slow down my breathing now. She couldn't go off without me! I had to look after her! That was what we'd said!

"I swear I'll be back as soon as I can. Please wait here."

She pulled out of my grip and was running away with Lauren before I could do anything.

"But- wait! Santana!" I shouted. A hand suddenly clamped over my mouth and I tried to yank away, still trying to yell but this time for help. This was why we shouldn't be apart!

"Brittany, you've gotta calm down, you're going to wake the teachers!" Puck hissed from behind me. I took a gasping breath when I realised it was only him, but I couldn't stop shaking. This wasn't right, Santana should be with me. I should be with her. That was how it was meant to work.

Everything slowed down. Things weren't blurring together as much, but the colours were still strong. Puck let me go after a while and went over to Mike instead. I didn't know what Azimio was doing. I sat on the ground, picking at grass and watching the castle. Sometimes it moved, like it was a ship on the sea. I wondered how everyone could sleep in there while it was tilting so much. Seconds ticked by, but Santana still didn't come back. I started to worry. I really should have gone with her. Maybe I should go look for her? What if she was in trouble? What if she needed my help? I put my hands out to the ground, putting all my weight on them as I climbed to my feet, but when I looked up again I could see figures running across the quidditch pitch. I grinned brightly and ran forward, quickly stopping when Kurt ran past me, almost knocking me over again.

"Santana!" I called, managing to turn back towards her. She caught me by the hand as she hurried past, pulling me back towards Karofsky. I'd forgotten he was there. I'd been worrying too much about Santana.

"You took so long! I thought something'd happened!" I told her, but she motioned at me to be quiet as we arrived at the side of the pitch again. Azimio was arguing with Kurt, and Santana stepped forward with her wand out in the hand that wasn't holding mine.

"Would you rather be expelled?"

He glared at her.

"Good. Shut up, and let Kurt help."

Kurt was already waving his wand above Karofsky, muttering spells I didn't know.

"Is he gonna be okay?" I whispered, but he hushed me too. I clung onto Santana. I wasn't going to let her go again. I'd go with her into the Forbidden Forest if she wanted to. I couldn't think of a reason she'd want to do that though, so I tried to work out what Kurt was doing. Whenever someone tried to speak he told them to be quiet. Mike came over as well from where he'd been standing alone. Finally Kurt stood, holding out a hand to motion us back.

"I'm going to wake him now. He might be disoriented."

I watched, shuffling as close as I could to Santana as Kurt knelt down again and pointed his wand at Karofsky one last time.

Karofsky's eyes snapped open and I jumped. Then he turned to Kurt and his fist went flying out. Suddenly everyone was shouting and Santana pulled away from me again, yelling as well and waving her wand about. Kurt was on the floor and Puck was holding Karofsky back and Azimio was trying to pull Puck off, and I didn't know what to do. I reached out for Kurt and yanked him to his feet, almost falling over again as I did. He was breathing just as fast as me, but I didn't know if he was actually shaking or if that was just my eyes being weird again.

"Get your head sorted, Karofsky, he was helping you!" Santana was screaming.

"Yeah, leaning right over my face, that's sure helping!" Karofsky bellowed back. "Who knows what else he'd-"

"Shut up you guys, do you want us caught?" Lauren snapped from behind me.

I spun around and wondered if she'd been there the whole time. Everyone went quiet at the reminder. I realised I was hanging onto Kurt now and let go of his wrist quickly. His other hand was held to his face, and he looked really upset.

Santana suddenly appeared at my side, her wand still out. At least she wasn't shouting anymore. I'd let go of her again though! She turned to scowl at Karofsky.

"You're so fucking ungrateful, Karofsky. After everything you've done to Kurt he still helps you, and you say thanks by punching him?"

"What are you gonna do, huh? Kick me off the team as well? Good luck finding another beater."

"You think I won't? I-"

"Leave it, Santana."

She turned at the same time as me to look at Kurt. He looked more angry than upset this time.

"…What? He just-"

"Leave it. He's not worth the effort, and you all need to sober up before you do anything else stupid. I'm going to bed. You should too," he said shortly, before turning around and walking away. Lauren fell into step with him, then Mike hurried after them.

I looked at Santana. She was watching Karofsky again, still scowling. I found her little finger with mine.

"We should go. I don't like this," I whispered.

Her jaw tightened but she nodded, and then turned. I moved with her, glancing back once to make sure Karofsky wasn't following. I still had to try and look after her. We reached the edge of the stadium, and she switched to holding hands. We walked to the castle together like that, and she didn't even pull away when Lauren looked back. Every time I stumbled she was ready to catch me and lift me back to my feet. We got to the Entrance Hall and she paused, looking across at me. I tried to smile, but it was hard when all I could think about was how I hadn't managed to look after her very well. She'd just been looking after me the whole time.

"Are you okay?" I whispered.

She nodded, but she didn't look okay. She looked like she might cry.

"I don't want to go to our dorms. Do you?"

She shook her head, sniffing as she did so. Her hand was squeezing mine so hard it was starting to hurt.

"Our room?"

"Our room sounds great," she whispered back. Her voice sounded a bit funny, so I smiled again before leading her up the stairs. Now it was my turn to look after her.

In case people can't remember, the drug mentioned in this is the same one I made up for chapter 15, which is legal for over-16s in the wizarding world but completely banned at Hogwarts.