A/N: Sorry for the long gap in chapters. I have been living in a shared accommodation for the past year and one of my housemates is a drug addict who has been increasingly hostile to me, most recently threatening assault and implying he might have me killed. I am now staying with family while I try to find a new place and speak to police about it. I want to make it clear, I may have been putting too much emphasis on Seamus' explosive talents, that is something I do plan on rectifying slightly. It is kinda funny that the one Irish character is good at blowing things up, though. Due to the pre-established canon, he will still be good at explosive magic, but it will be toned down a bit. I also want to establish that I don't own the rights to Seamus or any other character in this story.
Chapter Four - An Explosive Match
For the week after Halloween, the quartet were seen as heroes by the rest of Gryffindor, receiving a standing ovation the day after the exploits became known, lead by the Weasley twins. The Weasley's even managed to figure out how to charm each member of the quartets shoes to summon a red carpet of rose petals in front of them. A charm that they quickly reversed after the quartets first potions class, due to Snape's reaction to the contamination of his classroom. Whilst they did enjoy the attention, the quartet did still try to emphasise that it was mostly luck that saved them. Seamus' explosion, while impressive in its size, only made the troll lose its balance slightly. Had it not been for the limited amount of mobility on the staircase, the troll would have recovered almost immediately. This revelation only caused the other Gryffindors to say they were just being humble, whilst the Ravenclaws began to debate if that slight delay in the trolls movement would have allowed the professors enough time to save the quartet. In all the excitement, the quartet completely forgot their true reason for not being at the feast. Until their second potions lesson after Halloween.
Snape had cancelled the first after the deadly contamination of a few rose petals, which was known to be a huge overreaction due to none of the potions brewed in first year having any reaction to rose petals, so they didn't see the fruits of their almost lethal labour until the second lesson. "Well, thanks to a few certain Gryffindors who seem to think they deserve unwarranted praise for the simple act of continuing to breathe," A sharp glare towards the quartet left no question of who exactly Snape was referring to. "We are forced to be a lesson behind. Pray we do not have to fall further behind." With that, Snape began his introductory monologue on the different ways the wiggenweld potion could kill them if they made a mistake, whilst never actually mentioning how to avoid such a mistake other than flicking his wand to write the recipe on his chalkboard. After this he merely skulked around the classroom for a few minutes before loudly berating Neville Longbottom for adding too much salamander blood.
"If you were half the student that Mr Malfoy is, then even you would be able to avoid making such a simple mistake, Longbottom." As he began to move closer to Malfoy, both Harry and Seamus' eyes widened in excitement, both having remembered their prank. Blaise and Tonks also remembered, but they were able to hide their excitement better. As he reached Malfoy's desk, still praising the blond Slytherins potions skills, a massive eruption of paint sprayed everywhere, turning the usually dark and dingy room into a multicoloured monstrosity. Even the quartet were surprised by just how much paint was splattered across the room, leaving not an inch uncovered in a different colour than it was before. This then became the second potions class of the week to be cancelled. Gryffindor lost one hundred points that lesson, though McGonagall was able to successfully get this undone, due to a lack of any proof that the prank was caused by a Gryffindor. The following potions lesson began with Snape spending the first ten minutes meticulously scanning every student with his wand to ensure there was nothing that could disrupt the lesson like the previous two. Despite not finding anything, he was even more harsh than usual on the Gryffindors that lesson, removing a total of forty three points from Gryffindor by the end of the lesson. This time, however, the points were removed for valid, though incredibly pedantic, reasons, so despite the obvious bias in his point removal, McGonagall could do nothing about it.
The quartet didn't have much opportunity to discuss the ongoing situation of Harry's scar pain that weekend or over the following week, due to Harry's time being monopolised by something else. Quidditch training. Due to the rapid approach of the first quidditch match of the year, Harry typically spent almost all of his time not in class with the rest of the quidditch team. By the time his almost tyrannical captain allowed them to leave, Harry was too tired to do anything other than crawl into bed. The other three still schemed amongst themselves on what to do, but they wanted to wait for Harry to be able to join them before making any firm plans. The day before the match was left free from practice, though they all agreed that it would be better to let Harry stay focused on his first official quidditch match. They spent the following morning boosting Harry's confidence before the match and promising to get good seats to watch the match. Or, as Tonks put it, "watch you and the rest of the team destroy those slimy Slytherins!"
True to their word, Blaise, Seamus and Tonks all managed to find excellent seats to watch the match, with Blaise passing the other two a pair of omnioculars to watch the match through. He commented on the fact that they were very new inventions, currently going for thirty galleons each, but his personal vault has quite a lot of galleons, due to a deal he made with a goblin that he wouldn't get into right then. At the other twos suspicious looks, he assured them that it was perfectly legal and impressed the goblin a lot. Whilst they waited for the match to start, he taught the other two how to use them, before the Gryffindor team flew onto the pitch. Along with the rest of Gryffindor House, they cheered arrival of the Gryffindor team and booed the Slytherin team.
The match started well for Gryffindor, with two goals being scored, though one of those goals was from a penalty awarded after the Slytherin captain rammed into Harry, nearly knocking him off his broom. This provoked a large reaction from everybody, with those supporting Gryffindor booing Flint's actions, while the Slytherin's cheered. Not long after that, Blaise swore under his breath. "Something's wrong with Harry's broom." The other two quickly zeroed in on Harry's position, noticing that his broom appeared to be trying to buck him off. "Someone's done that to him."
Tonks quickly moved her sights to the teachers seating, snarling angrily. "Both Quirrell and Snape are saying something. It looks like they're casting a jinx or something." Blaise put his omnioculars down, as did the other two. "You handle Snape, I'll handle Quirrell. Seamus, wait here and keep an eye on Harry." Both of the boys nodded and Blaise and Tonks began racing around the stadium to get to the teachers seating, glancing back up at Harry as they ran. Both were happy to see that the Weasley twins were focusing on making sure that Harry didn't fall, but scowled at the Slytherin team for taking advantage of this sabotage.
Eventually, the two split up to take on the two would be murderers. Tonks crept under the stands behind Quirrell, attaching a firework that she'd been saving to let off once Gryffindor won to the wooden boards and carefully lifting the back of Quirrell's robes over the top of the rocket. Once she'd done that, she lit the fuse and began to run away. The rocket shot up into the air, throwing Quirrell's robes over his head and eventually exploding far away from anyone, though the Professors would later make a statement saying that the setting off of fireworks at quidditch matches was forbidden and that when they find out who set it off, they would be severely punished.
Once they both got back to Seamus, Tonks found out that Blaise had simply set Snape's robes on fire with a spell, though he did notice that the firework distracted both of their targets. With that, they went back to watching the match, though both Tonks and Seamus would keep looking back at the two professors they suspected of wanting to kill their friend to make sure they didn't make a second attempt. Blaise kept his omnioculars focused on the match. Eventually, all three of them saw Harry dive towards the ground, barely pulling up in time to avoid smashing into the ground. However, his broom did skim the ground slightly, causing him to fall forwards off his broom. They gasped in shock, then began cheering when he spat out the golden snitch, the rest of Gryffindor joining in when Lee Jordan announced that Gryffindor had won the match.
The party in the Gryffindor common room that night was legendary, with everyone celebrating their hundred and twenty point victory. The trio of spectators clued Harry in on what had happened when they were able to get a brief moment with just the four of them. As the party was beginning to die down, Blaise gave the captain a gift. The recording of the match from his omnioculars. "I did focus on Harry for most of it, but I tried to get the rest of the team in there when possible. I thought it might help you in future if you could look at the recording and focus on any strengths or weaknesses you notice. I also made sure to get the Slytherin team in there too, so you can analyse their skills as well." The captain looked like Christmas had come early, though he was slightly disappointed when Blaise told him that he'd put them down in shock when he noticed Harry's broom trying to buck him off.
When the quartet spoke about it in private, Blaise explained that it didn't record audio, so it didn't include Tonks saying it was Snape and Quirrell. He had also not thought to point them at the two professors while they were cursing Harry. Neither Tonks nor Seamus had thought to set their omnioculars to record, so they had no proof that the professors had tried to kill a student. And they all knew the professors would be more likely to believe Snape and Quirrell over a few students. Plus, Tonks would be in deep trouble if they told the professors about what they'd done as well. But at least they knew more now. They knew that Snape and Quirrell were working together to kill Harry.
Besides classes, nothing much happened over the next month. They still tried investigating both Snape and Quirrell, but weren't able to find out much. Blaise even commented that, besides Quirrell's now deceased grandfather being a war hero, there was very little known about him. He was considered to be an unremarkable wizard, scoring well in his exams, but not exceptionally well. He used to teach muggle studies, but was absent last year for a sabbatical. Whilst they knew more about Snape's history, there was nothing to suggest they knew each other any better than as colleagues. And with Snape's desire to have Quirrell's job, Blaise doubted that would make Snape like or trust Quirrell. The suggestion was brought up by Tonks that Quirrell might have been a death eater that was never caught, but Blaise said he was never suspected or named. In fact, his sleeves were loose enough that Blaise had been able to see that Quirrell had no Dark Mark. They were stuck.
They continued in this rut until the first of December, when Blaise received a letter from his mother, the first since the start of the school year. It informed him that she was currently courting a new man and it would be for the best if Blaise didn't return home for Christmas. She did suggest that Blaise try to ingratiate himself with either Harry or Tonks to try to get an invite to theirs for Christmas, though this was clearly because she hoped that Blaise would either end up married to Tonks or in some form of political alliance with Harry. Ideally both. Tonks and Harry both immediately wrote to Andromeda and Ted asking if they'd be ok with Blaise coming home with them. A few days later, they got a reply.
"Hey, mum and dad sent me a letter about Blaise coming to stay over Christmas." She glanced briefly at Harry. "They said they figured I'd share what it says with you, Harry, so they didn't send a reply to yours." Harry nodded in understanding and urged her to read the letter. "Blah, blah, blah, introductions… saying they hope we're both doing well at school… we would be happy to host Blaise over the Christmas holidays and have sent a letter to his mother asking if it would be okay!" Both Blaise and Harry cheered, Seamus grinning at the thought that Blaise wouldn't be alone for Christmas. "There's more! They said they've sent a letter to Seamus' parents inviting them to visit for Christmas!" All four of them cheered at this.
"Me families got our own Christmas traditions and we normally get together as a family. Me Mam might try to convince dad to visit for a day or two in the run up to Christmas or just after, but definitely not on Christmas Day." The others nodded in understanding, especially due to family being important at Christmas, though they all hoped his mum would be able to convince his dad to let him come at some point. They all looked forwards to the holidays, even more so when Seamus received a letter from his parents saying that they'd agreed to come and stay with the Tonks' for the last two days of the holiday. They quickly decided to have a second Christmas with the four of them where they exchanged presents on the first day Seamus was there.
Gradually, the Christmas holidays approached, with Seamus attending private lessons with McGonagall to learn better control over his magic. It appeared to be helping, as the number of explosions he inadvertently caused was decreasing, though they would still happen occasionally. Eventually, the day came for them to take the train to London and they all packed into a compartment together. Tonks spent the first half hour of the train ride telling Blaise how much he'll enjoy it at their house, before they saw Malfoy walking down the corridor of the train. When he noticed the quartet, he glared at them and began to make a move towards their compartment door, but flinched when he noticed Tonks stretching and quickly moved on.
"You know he'll be thinking of a way to get back at us, right?" The other three looked at Blaise. "I may be considered a bloodtraitor by most Slytherins, but there's still a few who want to stay on my good side. Malfoy definitely thinks we're behind the paint prank and I know for a fact that he wants revenge for both that and bodying him." Tonks and Seamus were quick to dismiss Blaise's concerns, but he persisted. "I'm serious. Runcorn told me that he overheard him asking Corvus Hostina and Peregrine Selwyn for some good curses to use. Apparently, they both told him to sod off and not to bother any other seventh years with firstie issues, otherwise they would teach him some curses with firsthand experience, but Moon said that Malfoy spoke to the Borgin twins in fifth year after that." He then explained the rumours behind the relationship between the Borgin and Malfoy families, most notably in regard to a shop in Knockturn Alley that specialised in selling artefacts of dark magic. "Not to mention, he's now going home to spend Christmas with his parents. His mother was a Black and I'm sure I don't need to tell you about their reputation, Tonks." Tonks pulled a face, though whether that was because she thought Malfoy might actually get taught some curses or because of the reminder of their family connection was unclear. "And I'm sure none of us actually believe his father's claim of being under the imperius curse." At that, Tonks finally relented and agreed that they'd all keep an eye out.
———————————————————————————
All four of them bemoaned the fact that the Christmas holidays had come to an end, though they all enjoyed themselves greatly. Blaise especially enjoyed his stay at the Tonks house, having never been in a muggle area before. The only dampener on his time there was the little he learned about Harry's relationship with his family. While neither Harry nor Tonks' family went into any detail, it was obvious that it wasn't a good relationship, especially on Christmas Day when Blaise asked Harry what his family had gotten him for Christmas. Whilst the Dursley's did give Harry presents for his birthday and Christmas, likely to avoid Andromeda's ire, they were usually something they'd gotten for Dudley that had broken. This year, it had been Dudley's bike that he'd gotten for Christmas the year before. A fact that caused Tonks to roll her eyes as she knew that the chain was missing and the front wheel was bent out of shape. As they'd agreed, the quartet exchanged their presents when Seamus joined them two days before they were due to get back. Tonks laughed at Seamus' gift to her, a pack of Dr Filibuster's Fabulous Wet-Start, No-Heat Fireworks. She remarked later on, out of earshot of their parents, that it perfectly encapsulated his explosive tendencies and would be useful in case they needed them at Harry's next Quidditch match. Blaise had gotten her a potions book. He'd used the excuse of it being her weakest lesson to explain it to her parents, though from the twinkle in Ted's eye, he may have suspected it wasn't what it seemed. As it was really a book on pranking spells charmed to look like a potions book, he'd have been correct in any suspicions he may or may not have had. From Harry, she received a Holyhead Harpies jumper, which she immediately put on.
Seamus also received some Filibusters from Blaise, though with a note attached telling him to not touch them until he wanted to use them. He carefully placed the box down, as though it was a bomb, which in his hands, wasn't too far from the truth. Tonks had actually managed to find a book written by a man called Robert Kaczynski who also had explosive accidents with his magic in school. Seeing what it was about, Seamus lit up in a bright smile and thanked her as he wanted to be able to do something with his magic that didn't have a risk of removing his eyebrows. From Harry, he received a pack of muggle playing cards and a cream that stated it helped with eyebrow growth. With a smirk, Harry explained that a deck of exploding snap cards would have been too dangerous to give him. The cream was self explanatory.
Harry had discussed his gift idea for Blaise with Andromeda. He'd wanted to get Blaise something that would assist him with his mother's disapproval. With that in mind, he'd wanted to offer some form of alliance, though Andromeda talked him out of this and instead suggested offering Blaise a formal offer of friendship. Whilst Harry didn't understand what made that different to their already existing friendship, she explained that it was less formal than an actual alliance, but still suggested a degree of familiarity that could lead to an alliance down the road. She also explained that it was customary to present a ring in these situations, which Harry baulked at, but agreed after it was explained that everyone with a wizarding background would understand what it meant. Typically, rings gifted in these circumstances were only worn in political contexts to show support with the other family in question, though Blaise happily put the ring bearing the Potter family crest on his pinky, understanding the reasons for it and thanking Harry in formal language, as befitting the occasion. Tonks had asked her mother if they could do the same, but as Andromeda had been disowned, she couldn't offer a formal friendship under the Black name and the Tonks family was too recent for this to be possible without being seen as an insult to tradition. Upon finding this out, Blaise said he'd have happily taken that to annoy his mother, but was still very pleased on his gift of a defence against the dark arts book from Tonks. Out of the four of them, while he was certainly no slouch, he was the weakest when it came to that particular lesson, though their current teacher may have been to blame for that. As he was also the most concerned about Malfoy and had the most exposure to dark wizards, he was very eager to improve his skills. Seamus had gotten Blaise a book on potions, one that specialised in the more explosive potions. In it, he'd written a foreword that stated he'd gotten it to help Blaise reach Seamus' skill at blowing shit up. Naturally, they all agreed not to let the parents find out about that foreword.
From Tonks, Harry received a pair of very fine Quidditch gloves. They were actually the kind that used to be used by professional Quidditch players, though a different company was now preferred by the professionals. Seamus had given him a book on defensive magic, again with an emphasis on the more explosive spells and a similar foreword. He received a very fine wizarding chess set from Blaise, in which the pieces were encrusted with jewels, one with red jewels and the other with green jewels. He commented that it was mostly in the hope he could have someone to play with, as he knows Tonks doesn't have the patience for wizards chess and Seamus would almost certainly lose from unintended explosions. Whilst he had opened it on Christmas Day, they also showed Seamus the invisibility cloak Harry had received from an unnamed individual, though Andromeda recognised the handwriting on the note to belong to Professor Dumbledore.
As the train brought them back to Hogwarts, they all chatted about the upcoming term, sometimes commenting on something they read in the respective books they were reading, Harry having received one from Ted on Quidditch manoeuvres and Blaise prioritising the DADA book, with the other two also reading the books they'd received two days prior. However, it wasn't long before they were interrupted by a very unwelcome voice telling them that they should watch themselves. They all glanced back at the annoying blond in front of them, flanked by his two pet gorillas and Blaise thanked Malfoy for the warning. "I mean it, bloodtraitor. I haven't forgotten about your muggle savagery at our first flying lesson. Nor have I forgotten about the paint incident. You may not have been caught, but I know you lot were responsible for that." He noticed the ring glittering on Blaise' finger. "Don't think your new friendship with Potter will save you. He's just as much of a bloodtraitor as you are. Even worse considering his mudblood mother!" Blaise and Seamus quickly held Harry and Tonks back from reacting.
"If I were you, Malfoy, I'd piss off before I hex you. Don't forget that I killed a mountain troll. I'd hate to accidentally turn you into a smear on the floor." Malfoy paled slightly, before leading his bodyguards away with a scowl, chased by Blaise and Seamus' glares. The expressions on Harry and Tonks' faces couldn't be described as glares, there was far too much homicidal rage behind them. Unsurprisingly, the rest of the train ride consisted of plotting Malfoy's demise, though they did eventually move on to less lethal methods of revenge. Harry's hair had a slight red tint to the ends for the entire journey, while Tonks looked like her head was literally on fire. By the time they arrived at Hogwarts, they'd finally calmed down enough to decide not to make any plans until the next day, to avoid doing anything they might regret.