When Things Unravel

Daisy stood in the tunnel at Appley, waiting for the announcer to say her name so she could take the field. She shook her legs, loosening up a bit and then rolled her shoulders, a look of determination on her face. It was bitterly cold, but she knew once she got up in the air and moving, the cold would be the least of her worries.

It was the last match of the first half. And then tomorrow she would be off to Greece with her mother, brother and the professor – hopefully to learn more about who she was and what she could do.

"Finally, taking the pitch is seeker Pixie Wood!"

She took off at a run and easily hopped on her broom, soaring up into the air. They were playing the Magpies, so it shouldn't be a difficult match. They had beat them in most of their showdowns. Daisy sat confidently on her broom, waiting for the balls to be released.

She was going to make damn sure her last game of the first half was a good show.

"You lot ready for Greece?" Chris asked from where he sat next to Dominique. He looked down at the triplets seated in front of them with Wills.

"For the most part," Jamie said. "Think Daisy and I are mostly packed. Mum's been owling and popping by all week to make sure I've got everything."

Dominique laughed softly at the image of her aunt checking after her grown children.

"I'm about to barmy if she shows up again," Remus said, rolling his eyes. "I'm not even the one going."

"She's probably just nervous," Dominique said quietly. She glanced around to make sure only they were within earshot. "It's as much training for her as you. Doubt she's gone through anything like this before. She didn't go to school after all."

"True," Jamie said, casting a side-eye at his brother. "Which is why I don't mind it so much."

"Pix is looking good today," Wills said, leaning forward in his chair as the game kicked off. "She's been on a good run since that match against the Falcons."

"Pixie's got her groove back," Alan said grinning. "She's been pulling out new tricks again. Where she and Nilsson come up with this stuff, I'll never know."

Dominique turned her gaze back to the match, marveling at her cousin as she whipped in and out of plays, not seeming to notice the wind that was slowing up the other seeker.

"Should be an easy match," she commented. "They've beat them in all their other matchups."

"Yea, but this is Pix we're talking about. She'll not take it easy," Wills said, smiling.

"Nilsson does tend to push them hard no matter what," Remus said.

"How are things with John? She said anything to you lately?" Dominique asked. She had tried asking Daisy herself over the past few weeks, but she never seemed to say much. Just that they were "okay."

"You know Pix. Says it's fine. But I have my thoughts on that," Remus said, frowning slightly. Wills looked over at him, his mutual concern evident.

"She hasn't said more than that to me either," Lucy piped up from next to Dominique. "But you have to admit, they've seemed a bit tense lately."

"And things were going so well," Dominique said.

"They'll work themselves out," Jamie said. "I overheard her not long ago. She's going to tell him when we get back. At least that's what she told him."

Everyone grew silent at the news, all watching Daisy. If she was bothered by her personal life, you couldn't tell from how she was playing. She was focused and executing each maneuver and play with ease, a fierce smile on her face as she glanced back at the bewildered look on the Wasps seeker.

"At least she stopped letting it bother her on the pitch," Dominique said.

They all settled into watching the match, shouting and cheering with every goal that the Arrows made, or whenever Daisy successfully worked defense. After about an hour in, Chris glanced over at Dominique.

"So, you never said how your date with Magnus went," he said lightly. Dominique's eyes widened as she felt her cheeks heat up. Immediately, every single one of her cousins were looking at her. Remus and Alan were wearing goofy grins while Lucy started giggling.

"I told you. It wasn't a date," Dominique huffed. "We were just hanging out. It's a work thing."

"Sure you were, Dom," Remus said. "Tell us about Magnus." Dominique glared at him.

"He's Aunt Hermione's new assistant," Lucy offered. Dominique turned her glare to the redhead seated next to her.

"He's just a work friend," she said before turning back to the game. Her eyes caught Paul as he passed to Kelly. "I'm not interested in dating right now and you all know that."

"Question is, does Magnus know this?" Alan asked. Dominique threw a scowl at him. "Hey now, it's a reasonable question. Some blokes don't catch on as easily." Dominique shifted in her chair.

"Well… I don't know," she admitted. "We didn't really talk about that."

"I'd suggest if you meet up again you make that clear. Wouldn't do for the bloke to inadvertently get his hopes up and all," Alan said before turning back to the game. Dominique huffed softly, though she had to admit he was right. It would be best to make sure everything was out there in the clear the next time they hung out - which she was fairly sure would happen. She could feel Chris glancing down at her, so she looked over with an eyebrow raised.

"Anything to add, Abbott?" she asked. He smiled slightly and shook his head.

"Seems you know what you're doing," he said while turning back to watch the game.

Daisy flew in between two of the Wasps chasers, causing one to fumble the quaffle. They had attempted to keep their formations tight – no doubt in preparation for Daisy – however she still managed to find openings. She ducked a bludger and looped around the away team hoops, looking out towards the field to the last place she saw the snitch. She saw it fluttering over the home team hoops and flew downfield, glancing up at Nilsson. He touched his nose, signaling for her to go for it. She grinned and sped off, leaving the chasers behind.

The Wasps seeker was on the other side of the field when he noticed her going for the snitch. Even though she knew he couldn't catch up to her, she didn't lay off, leaning close to her broom and zeroing in on the tiny ball. It zipped off towards the stands, with Daisy making a hard left after it. She reached out, seeing it within her grasp.

In the back of her focus, she heard a loud gasp move through the crowd, though she pushed aside whatever curiosity over it she had, and lunged forward, grabbing the snitch.

Whipping back around towards the field she looked around, confused as to why most of the chasers had stopped play. She looked down on the pitch, seeing her teammates flying towards a figure lying on the ground. Daisy's eyes widened as she realized who it was.

"Fuck, no," she gasped as she sped towards the pitch. "Merlin, god, please no!"

"Look at her go! She's got it! That's my Pixie!" Wills shouted as he clapped and watched Daisy shoot off towards the snitch. "Parks doesn't even stand a chance catching up to that!"

The whole group rose to their feet cheering as Daisy tore off after it, obviously about to catch it. Then Dominique saw something out of the corner of her eye.

"Oh my god!" she shouted just as an errant bludger smashed into Kingfisher's shoulder, knocking him off his broom about 80 feet up in the air. Everyone turned at the sound of her shout, watching in horror as he hit the pitch – landing on his injured shoulder - obviously bellowing in pain. Dominique looked over, watching as Daisy reached out and grabbed the snitch, obviously unaware of what had just happened. She flew around and saw John, then quickly sped down to the ground.

"She didn't stop," Remus murmured. "It was like she didn't even see it…"

"How badly do you think he's hurt," Dominique managed to ask.

"Dunno… but he won't be getting back on the pitch any time soon," Alan said. "Taking a hit that hard to the shoulder of his throwing arm, then landing on it… It's not good."

Daisy landed and ran straight for John, who was grimacing and shouting in pain anytime someone tried to touch his shoulder or arm. He held it tightly to his chest.

"Move! Let me through!" she shouted, pushing players and healers alike aside. She dropped to her knees next to him, suddenly unable to speak as tears fell down her face. "Oh, god… John…" He looked up at her and despite the fact he was in obvious pain, she understood clearly the message he was sending without saying a word.

"Why didn't you do anything?"

Daisy sobbed as the guilt wracked through her. She should have seen what was coming. If she had had the connection, she would have seen the bludger and could have stopped it or warned him. She hadn't felt a single, goddamn thing. Not even a niggle or wisp of what was to come.

"Just, just… hold on, John. They're going to fix you up," she said, touching his face. "They'll fix you up." The healers finally managed to pull her away so they could assess the damage and take him to St. Mungo's.

She put her hand to her mouth as her team looked on grimly.

"Why didn't you do anything?" Kelly asked softly. Daisy looked at him, still unable to speak. She just shook her head and looked down at the snitch still in her hand. "I mean… I get it, but it's just a game, Daisy." Daisy quickly wiped at her face.

"Shut up, Kelly," she said before disappearing.

"He's going to know," Jamie said grimly. The others in the box were too busy talking loudly to pay any heed to the little group watching as the healers take John off the field.

"I knew it wasn't him," Lucy said softly. "I could just feel it."

"How do you think she'll explain this one?" Remus asked. "Either she cares too much about the game to save her boyfriend or he finds out she's been lying to him this whole time about the connection."

"Either way, it's not good," Alan said, his brow furrowed. "We should probably make sure her room is ready." Jamie, Remus, Dominique, Chris and Lucy looked at him.

"You don't think he'd break up with her for it, do you?" Remus asked.

"Dunno. I really don't know how that is going to go down, but I get a feeling she'll want to stay with us tonight," Alan said softly. The group looked to the field, as the room started emptying. Jamie looked up and noticed Wills was still standing, his face full of concern.

"We should probably get to the hospital," Wills said without looking at them. "Daisy'll need us."

Daisy stood still, not paying any attention to the murmuring going on around her, and staring at the floor. A couple times, someone tried to speak to her, but she waved them off without looking up, not wanting to talk to anyone. She replayed everything over in her mind. Going after the snitch, hearing the gasp of the crowd. Grabbing it and then looking over to see John on the field.

She should have seen it. She should have known it was coming.

And yet, she didn't. There was absolutely nothing. Which meant it was true. She hadn't felt John that night. She hadn't developed a connection with him. If she had, she would have known he was in danger and she could have saved him. Sure it might have cost them the match, but it would have been worth it. She had felt someone else.

The murmuring rose to create an annoying buzz in her head. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to block it out. It was giving her a headache. Why couldn't they all just keep quiet?

Her eyes flew open as she prepared to yell at her team but she stopped. Her eyes widened as she looked around.

No one was saying anything.

They were all standing there, grim faces and lips unmoving. She frantically looked around, focusing on Kelly.

"I don't understand… she said she had a connection with him. She should have known it was coming… Why didn't she try to stop it?"

She then looked over to Cunningham, who was glancing down the hall towards the triplets and her cousins.

"You have got to get over this, Paul… she broke up with you. It's over," he thought. "Though… why does she keep looking down here? Could there be a chance…"

Daisy shook her head and looked over at Coach. He was leaning against the wall, his eyes fixed on the floor in front of him.

"I seriously hope it's not as bad as it looked," he thought. "I wonder what Daisy is feeling right now… probably beating herself up again. She can't do that. This wasn't her fault."

Daisy's eyes widened. She could hear their thoughts. She looked down at the floor again, breathing heavily. She closed her eyes, remembering what Jamie had told her about controlling the connection. Surely she could use the same logic with this.

"Just… imagine there is a small dial in your brain. You turn it one way and it gets louder, you turn it the other and it gets softer until you can't feel a thing…"

She slowed down her breathing, and concentrated, visualizing a tiny knob. She started to turn it slowly and as she did, the thoughts around her quieted until she heard nothing. Her eyes flew open as she looked around, noticing she didn't hear anything.

Well this was an interesting development. If only the rest of it had come this easily.

Out of the corner of her eye, she sensed Nilsson watching her. She looked back down at the floor, not meeting his eyes. Instead, she focused solely on him and slowly turned the dial back up.

"I wish she would just say something…"

Daisy pushed herself a little harder, deciding to delve into her coach's mind. She saw herself flying from his perspective. It was during her low point.

"What's wrong… Nothing is working… Why can't I get her to focus…"

She looked to the door of John's room, blocking her coach out, not sure she could take anymore of his pity. She was starting to feel overwhelmed and as though she couldn't breathe. She looked down the hall, seeing her brothers. She pushed off the wall and quickly walked to them.

"What's wrong?" Jamie whispered, turning to her before she had reached them. Daisy kept walking past them, motioning for them to follow her. She wanted to make sure no one on the team would hear. Once they were far enough away, she stopped and faced her brothers, Dominique and Lucy.

"I can hear thoughts," she said after gulping down some air, tears falling down her cheeks. "I don't know why, but it just, it just started." She looked down the hall. "Kelly blames me. He keeps wondering why I would put the snitch before saving John."

Dominique reached out and put her hand on Daisy's arm.

"It's not your fault," she said softly. "We all know that you couldn't have known." Daisy whipped her head around to look at her cousin.

"He's going to blame me. He thinks I felt it and chose to do nothing about it. I could see it in his eyes," she whispered furiously. "And it is my fault… I should have told him. I shouldn't have let him think that we were..." Her eyes turned gray as more tears streamed down her cheeks.

No one said anything. Not because they agreed with what she said, more so because they didn't know what they could say to make her feel better.

"Doesn't really matter, does it? Whether I tell him the truth or not, he's going to break up with me. After everything, how could he stay," she said, still barely keeping herself together. She looked to her side, fighting hard to keep the tears in check, but finding she couldn't. "I suppose the one plus side is that he'll be safe if he's not around me."

Dominique looked to the triplets, silently urging them to say something to comfort her. Jamie cleared his throat and stepped closer to his sister.

"You don't know that he'll break up with you. Maybe once you talk it all out, it'll be okay," he said soothingly. Daisy laughed shortly as she looked up at him.

"Would you stay?" she asked. "After finding out that I lied about the connection and everything? That there's still a chance I felt someone else?"

"I chose to go back to Lila," he said simply. "I could have chosen not to."

"But that's different. You're connected to her… I can't feel John," Daisy said, starting to sob.

"You remember what the professor said. It just takes time," Alan said. Daisy looked at him.

"But it's been months. Don't you think I would have felt something by now?" she whispered. Her brothers were silent. Daisy looked into their minds, seeing that all three now believed that she had actually felt someone else. "You agree with me. I see it in your minds."

"Bugger… that's going to take some time to get used to," Remus muttered, running his fingers through his hair. Daisy glanced down the hall, seeing Nilsson again. He was looking down towards the Woods, a look of worry on his face. She quickly looked back to her brothers.

"God, I hate being able to read minds," she muttered. Jamie looked down the hall, catching Nilsson and then back at Daisy.

"What did you see?" he asked sternly. She looked up at him.

"Nothing like that, he's just worried. Pities me," she said, starting to wring her hands. Daisy looked past her brothers towards the door again. "It wasn't that bad a hit, right?" She looked at her family, begging with her eyes for them to tell her it wasn't that bad.

"He'll be right as rain in no time, I'm sure," Alan said comfortingly. Daisy nodded and looked back at the door. If she could read that he was trying to make the best of it, she didn't let on.

"Pix, there you are," Wills said as he walked up to the group, a few mugs of tea following behind him. He waved his wand and they dispersed themselves. Daisy continued looking at the door, not grabbing for one. "You know, some tea might help you feel better."

Daisy turned to look at him. She smiled tensely.

"Thanks, Wills. But just don't think I can right now," she said.

"Do you want to talk-"

Everyone turned their heads at the sound of the door opening. Victoire stepped out and looked around. Once she found Daisy, she walked over.

"He wants to see you," she said softly. Daisy nodded and stepped passed her, disappearing into the room and shutting the door behind her.

"How bad is it?" Alan asked. Victoire looked at them and shook her head.

"It's not good."

And yes, the last few chapters are definitely a bit of a ride. And it's not going to let up, so hope you're enjoying the drama. I've gotten soo much done again on the new book and I'm really looking forward to getting it posted for you guys. ^_^

Guest: Yep! Had been planning on sneaking that in from the beginning, though there is definitely more to come. This is sooo much bigger than wanting revenge against the Woods or trying to destroy them. ^_^

AleenaBean: Honestly, I didn't realize how long I made that chapter until I posted it. The next chapter is also quite long and a bit of an information drop. But we're almost at the end.

As always, thanks for reading, following and reviewing!