Broomsticks and The Wizards Gauntlet

Broomsticks and the Wizards Gauntlet

Chapter 7

“Now I don’t want you being friends with Lily Potter anymore Luke.”

“What? You can’t tell me who I can be friends with Drew.”

“She wants you, I just know she does. Girls can tell these things. It’s me or Lily, Luke. You choose.” Luke sat with his arm around Drew in the Gryffindor common room. Lily entered through the porthole with two other Gryffindor girls and the two made eye contact. Lily approached the pair and returned the icy look Drew was giving her.

“Luke, I have a big potions test coming up and I’d hoped you could help me prepare.”

“Yeah, of course Lily.” Drew punched Luke in the arm and stared at him, her brow furrowed in anger. “I mean, I’m sorry Lily. Chester Burroughs, the other prefect, can tutor you. I’ll fill him on what you already know.” Luke couldn’t even look at Lily, he was so ashamed of himself. He felt sick to his stomach by the way Drew had played him like a fiddle. It wasn’t just the Lily thing either. Already she had told Luke that he had to walk her to her classes, and that he should kiss her outside every class, so everybody knew they were dating. He also had to eat lunch with her, and if any boys asked him, he should tell them that she was a good kisser. She seemed so worried about appearances and more then once she had forcibly grabbed Luke and kissed him in the hall when Teddy Lupin strode by them. Luke could see the heart wrenching look on Teddy’s face and he sympathized with him, seeing as he had once been on the receiving end of being dumped. This just was not the Drew he knew in America. She seemed insecure and was trying to make up for it by being controlling. He tolerated the strange behavior, but telling him he couldn’t be friends with Lily, was almost the straw that broke the camel’s back. He intended to apologize to Lily later, if he could ever shake Drew and find some time to sneak away.

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Scorpius listened to the howler from Hermione. She was furious that he left Serenity and came back to school. Persephone walked into the hospital wing at the end of the howler and smiled wickedly upon hearing Hermione chastising him. She stood at the end of his bed and glared at Scorpius.

“Have fun with your fans?”

“Persephone! Why did you leave earlier? I would have kicked everyone out to be alone with you.”

“Oh, who am I to come between a man and his fans? Besides, Violetta Longbottom looked positively slutty and I didn’t want to deprive you of a good stare.” Scorpius reached out and yanked Sapphire’s hand down, the girl falling onto the bed. He wrapped his arms around her and drove his tongue into her mouth.

“What’s up with you today, you feisty little witch.” Persephone struggled against him but relented finally when Scorpius pinned her down underneath him. She was a petite girl and Scorpius was built, so she didn’t stand a chance of getting away from his clutches and honestly, she didn’t want to. She wanted to be exactly where she was, in her husbands arms.

“Oh, just that all the girls in this school want to pleasure you. I heard one girl at lunch saying that she wanted to lure you into a shower and lock you in until you gave up and screwed her! Another girl was talking about spiking your pumpkin juice with a love potion and one dude said that he would be gay for a day to be with you! I imagine he’s gay everyday, but its insanity, Scorpius!” Scorpius laughed and tickled her, but Persephone was not amused and she was miffed that he wasn’t taking her seriously.

“What was the name of the shower girl? I rather like the sound of that. Sounds kinky!” Scorpius laughed again but Persephone’s hand shot up between his legs and she grabbed his balls in her hand and threatened to squeeze if he didn’t take it back.

“Kidding, baby, kidding! Merlin, your wound tight today. I think I need to give you something big between your legs to make you relax.”

“Sex? If I don’t give in, are you going to cheat on me with that Longbotom girl?”

Scorpius might have taken it as a joke but Persephone was totally serious. She worried now, with his increased fame if Scorpius expected her to start acting like the lovesick fangirly’s that wanted to have his first born child and would stop at nothing to get it.

“You’re being ridiculous. Do you think I want any of those girls, when I have someone like you to love me? Violetta was someone I used a long time ago. I wasn’t very nice to her either, so I’m not going to be mean to her now. I’d like to think that I’ve learned a thing or two since I left here the first time.”

“Yeah, what did you learn, and where do I fit into the puzzle, because I’m not seeing it Scorpius. I feel like a disease at this school. I hate it!”

“Babe, try to relax. When I get out of here and start classes again, I’ll make sure everyone knows that you are my wife and that I love you and only you. I love you my precious little Sapphire.” With that, Scorpius tenderly kissed her lips. He pulled away and began to sing to Persephone, the song that he wrote for her. His voice was soft and loving as he stroked her hair, stopping to kiss her cheek and her nose and her chin and then continuing his song. Midway through the song, as Persephone gazed into his eyes she began to cry tears of joy. Scorpius leaned up and drew the curtain around his bed. The healer was taking lunch and they were alone in the hospital wing. Scorpius caressed her thighs and then slipped his hand under her panties where he slid a finger inside her. She moaned and slid her hand down his pajama bottoms.

“I love you Scorpius. I love you so much, I need you.” Persephone pulled his bottoms down and moved over him. She straddled her husband and stroked her man with her small fingers. He closed his eyes and moaned and suddenly she was struck with a similar image. Mr. Malfoy looked just like Scorpius! It wasn’t Draco she was hot for, it was Scorpius. She had been so tormented over his fame and how to deal with it, that she must have transferred her feelings of abandonment and lack of worth onto someone who didn’t make her feel that way….Mr. Malfoy. She smiled at thinking that she wasn’t really a pervert, thinking about sleeping with a man that was old enough to be her father. She moved over Scorpius and took him inside her. He opened his eyes in his surprise, but smiled and reached for her hips. His fingers were caressing her breasts as she rode him slow and deep. He pulled her down over him, held her in his arms tightly as she rode him, lovingly and expertly. Their bodies became one as Scorpius bucked upwards and she forced herself down over him. They came in quiet tenderness and Persephone just lay there for the longest time, not wanting to feel the loss when he pulled out.

“I love you so much Sapphire. You’re the reason for all of it. That’s how you fit in to my world.” Scorpius fell asleep holding her. She was already late for her class, so she tried to slip out of bed, when something dropped out onto the floor from under his pillow. She picked it up and examined it. It was a bottle of pain relieving potion, the same potion the mediwitch refused to give him. She reluctantly put it back under his pillow, unsure as to how she should confront him. He had just showed her such love and tenderness that she didn’t want to ruin the moment by asking where he got the illegal potion. On second thought, Scorpius loved her the way she was, and the way she was…was somebody that would confront him. Later though. She took the potion and stuffed it into her bag. She would give it back to him later when he woke up, if he could prove that it was given to him by a healer. He would respect her for that….she thought.

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“So if she is the Mistress of Ceremonies…then…Who is the Master of ceremonies?” Blaise asked.

“Think about it. Who else thinks he has to save the bloody world?”

“Potter.” Blaise said dryly.

“None other. Still, what he did rescuing Nott and his family and taking them to a hide out takes guts. He took on four auror’s if the Prophet’s reporting was accurate.”

“Draco, as noble as it is you have to put an end to it. You will fry for this. The auror’s will raid soon enough and when they do, you don’t want your wife anywhere near that place! They will automatically assume you are behind it and you’ll be kissing dementor’s in a rotting, stinking cell! Aren’t you pissed that Hermione did this?” Draco thought for a moment before answering.

“No. She’s a Gryffindor, remember? They don’t think like we do. They jump in head first, to any noble cause they find redeemable. I’m sure she’s aware though that I could get into trouble and she probably has a plan should something like a raid take place. You see, she’s trying to protect me, by not telling me about The Gauntlet. It’s sweet actually, even if it is sneaky and goes against every word we vowed to abide by when we married. Her cause is noble though. How can I get mad at my wife for caring about the same issues I do? Jessie told me today that she wants a Daddy to love her. The child thinks being a squib means that she isn’t worthy of being loved. If that isn’t reason enough to change the fucking squib laws, I don’t know what is!” Draco’s voice rose as the anger began to boil inside him once again at the thought of his precious niece feeling less then equal.

“She actually said that? That’s heart breaking. I should go play with her.” Draco smiled at Blaise and shook his head. No matter how often he saw the way Blaise melted over Luna and her kids he still couldn’t quite believe his eyes and ears. “Oh, is there anything else, or can I go sir?” Blaise chuckled.

“I’m writing to Prunella to tell her to provide me a graph. I want to know when the rise in squib births rose sharply. I’m still convinced that something isn’t right here.”

“How come you’re asking Prunella and not me?” Blaise said with a worried tone to his voice.

“Oh stop worrying. Your job is safe Zabini. Go fall in love with my sister and her kids already. I can’t take looking at your sappy face anymore. Go on, get, ya git! And close the door behind you. I have some work to do.” Blaise smiled and left Draco to his business. Draco tapped his fingers, deep in thought. He finished the letter to his secretary,Prunella, and then left for the Ministry. There were some facts he wanted to check out. For one, he wanted to find out everything there was to know about Jean Paul LaRoche.

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Hermione sat her desk at the Ministry and scrawled a quick note to Draco. It simply said I love you. She had reasons for writing it, but she didn’t want to think about the what if’s. Harry would be there shortly and they were helping Wood get the Nott’s out of Britain safely. Harry had a bad feeling that Wood just wasn’t up to the task, all by his lonesome. She folded the letter to Draco and sealed it.

“Hey,’Mione, ready to go to lunch?” Harry said loudly so everyone in earshot could hear where they were going. He winked at Hermione with a smile that only she could see.

“Yeah, just let me grab my coat.”

“Okay but we should get going. Our table will be waiting, and I don’t know how long they will hold it.” Hermione hurriedly left with Harry, forgetting to send the letter to Draco. It was propped up neatly on her desk, addressed to Draco.

Hermione got on Harry’s broom and held on for dear life. She hated flying, that hadn’t changed. She had relaxed a bit over the years, but flying with Harry was not like flying with Draco. Every flyer had their own way of maneuvering turns and she was used to the way Draco always told her when he was going to turn or dive. Harry flew freely though, letting the wind take him the way it wanted to, and he never warned her when he was going to dive. It was quite a harrowing experience for Hermione, on the back of Harry’s broom.

“Honestly Harry, can’t you control the broom better?”

“You mean, fly slower, like Draco?” Harry smirked.

“No. Draco does not fly slow! He flies more sensibly then you though! I swear to gods, I’m not getting on your broom again.”

“Yeah, yeah, you said that last time. Look, come on, we need to hurry,”Harry said landing the broom at long last.

“Do you think its necessary to do this? I mean won’t Wood take it badly that we are following them on route?”

“Did you watch any quidditch last year?” Harry asked.

“No. What does quidditch have to do with anything? Honestly, all you boys think about is quidditch.”

“Don’t let Scorpius hear you say that. If you had watched any quidditch, you would have known that Wood took one too many bludgers to the head last season. I’m not sure he still has all of his faculties about him. You saw how long it took him to get through the last part of the gauntlet. I won’t do our clients a disservice. Every client is as important as the first, and safety is the number one importance.” Harry said stopping short. Hermione ran into him and crushed his foot in the process. “Ow!”

“Well tell me when you are going to stop!” Hermione shot back at Harry. The more she had to lie to Draco, the fouler her mood became. She hated lying to him. Hated it! She was starting to resent Harry, for no reason. He sensed it too and shut his mouth.

“Come on ‘Mione, I’m sorry you stepped on my foot,” Harry said sarcastically and Hermione groaned and kept walking.

They were in the Forbidden Forest outside DPU. Harry thought it the perfect place to start the first and hardest leg of their journey. They had to get to the shore and then the Nott’s and Wood had to take a portkey. The only trouble was, was that the auror’s were monitoring portkey’s from the shore. They would have to be fast, that’s all there was too it.

“Best disillusion yourself ‘Mione. We can’t risk the auror’s finding out who we are.”

“Yeah, good thinking." For a brief moment, she thought about the man in black. The man with the cane, that kissed her hand so tenderly. He too must have had a disillusion charm cast upon himself, because she couldn’t remember what he looked like no matter how hard she tried.

When they reached Wood and the Nott family, they were huddled by a dead log in the heart of the Forbidden Forrest. Nott was visibly upset, though he didn’t squabble with Harry or Hermione. He was merely worried about his kids being eaten by giant tarantulas or centaurs and wanted to get a move on.

“Okay, so Wood will be escorting you to America, but we will be overseeing your departure from Britain. It could get dicey, so I want everyone to move silently and quickly. Hold hands and don’t let go. When we reach the portkey, you will be transported to Bermuda, where Wood has been given the details of where the next portkey is. From there, its onto Florida, where a wizarding family is already exchanging currency for you at the wizards bank. You will be able to live in style too. Hermione here was able to get you your green cards."

“What’s a green card?” Nott said it with the emphasis on the card, not on the green. Harry didn’t have the time to explain to him, that he would be living a muggle existence in America, at least until the manhunt was called off on the Nott family in Britain.

“It lets you seek employment in America. You need one to work. So here they are, and here is the address of your host wizarding family, should you get separated form Wood for any reason, you will know where to go.” Harry looked at Wood and shook his head. He normally didn’t give the families he helped escape, the address of their new place, but for some reason, Oliver Wood just scared him a bit. Those clues were bloody easy, Harry kept muttering to himself. Any moron could have figured them out.

“Hermione, this is going to be hairy. Stay out of my way. I don’t want you going down when the wand fight commences. These auror’s aren’t playing games.”

“Been through worse Harry. I think I can manage,” Hermione spat. Harry stepped through the thick vines until they came upon a Campbell’s soup can, chicken noodle to be exact. Harry was fond of Campbell’s since his divorce, especially on a cold winter’s day and also because he hated cooking. Cooking gave him memories of his years with the Dursley’s and how he was forced to serve those beached whales, Dudley and Vernon Dursley, while Aunt Petunia screeched at him to hurry up. Nott looked up at Wood and then Harry and Hermione in a state of confusion.

“What is it?” Wood said.

“What ya mean, what is it? It’s a bloody soup can! It’s a portkey, Wood. Did you put the next portkey where I told you? On the grass behind the elm tree, next to the bench?”

“’Er, that’s not what you said Potter. You said to put it on the beach!” Wood exclaimed with indignance.

“Wasn’t it a shell Harry?” Hermione asked.

“Yes, it was a bloody shell. Why would I ask you to put a portkey that was made out of a conch shell on a bloody beach, with thousands of shells! We have to abort Hermione. Wood, you’re fired.”

“You can’t fire me! I won and the witch in Bermuda won’t be looking for anyone else but me!”

“He’s right Harry. The wizarding family is Florida expects Wood too. We can’t abort Harry. You know the risk of the Nott’s staying here. We’ll find it Harry. You hold off the auror’s and I’ll find the shell. Wood, you protect the Nott’s.”

“I don’t mean to complain, but all of this indecision is making my wife and kids nervous,” Theo Nott said with a worrisome expression.

“It’s fine Theodore. This is Harry Potter,” Hermione falsely boasted.” He defeated Voldemort, remember?” Harry gave her a scathing look. He hated when people brought that up and he knew Hermione was stretching the truth, in order to ease his mind.

They left by portkey at that and immediately there were figures popping in all around them. Hermione ran with Wood and the Nott's towards the beach, where she began her frantic search for the purple and pink conch shell.

“Do you remember where you put it Oliver?” Hermione shouted as the family ducked low, bolts of red wand light shooting from Harry’s wand. Harry was fighting the auror’s off with some damned impressive magic. Hermione had never seen her friend fight so hard. He had five auror’s on him and he had successfully drawn attention away from Nott and his family, by creating a mountain sized diversion of light. It was a spectacle and auror’s were surrounding Harry.

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Draco looked at the file on Jean Paul. He had nothing, nada, bupkis! There was nothing in his file that would suggest enemies that may have wanted to kill him. Nothing in the file that could clear Luna. He slammed it down on his desk at the MInistry, when something caught his eye. He picked the file back up and saw the words, Ancients Apothecary. Draco read on. Jean Paul was co founder of Draco’s biggest competition in Potions. They had been neck in neck for the past year, with Draco’s company only just being edged out by Ancient’s Apothecary. He filed this tidbit of information in the back of mind, and set off for Hermione’s office. He would take her lunch, he decided. He wanted to mention the Gauntlet and see what her reaction was. He had to play it close to the vest though, because he wasn’t sure how to proceed in this situation. He worried for his wife’s safety first and foremost, but he also did agree with what she was doing, so he could hardly fault her. He felt proud that his wife, with the help of Harry Potter, had thought up such an ingenious plan to free squibs. Yet as Minister of Magic, he couldn’t very well condone such actions, or he would be guilty. The mere fact that he knew about it now and hadn’t turned Hermione in for her crimes against the Ministry, made him an accessory to the fact. He was guilty, any way you cut it. Therefore, for this reason he decided he must discuss it with her.

“Can you tell Hermione that I’m, here to take her to lunch, Zelda?” Draco said to the secretary. “On second thought. I’ll tell her myself, thanks anyways.”

“Sir!” Zelda called from behind him. Draco continued to her desk where he immediately saw the letter addressed to him. He tucked the sealed envelope into his breast pocket and headed back out towards the reception area.

“Sir, I tried to tell you that Hermione is already gone to lunch, with Harry Potter.” Draco tore open the letter at that. He read the words, I love you, written in Hermione’s handwriting, and he started to seriously worry.

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“Lily, wait up!” Luke ran ahead in the dungeon. Lily was just leaving the Potions classroom with the other prefect Chester Burroughs who had filled inf or him with the tutoring session. Luke nodded to the boy and then stopped in front of Lily. She was not smiling at him.

“I’m in a bit of a hurry Luke.”

“For what? You don’t have anymore classes today.”

“Yeah, I dunno. I’m just in a hurry and we wouldn’t want Drew to see you talking to me, now would we?” Luke gulped. Girls could be down right scary sometimes! Make one happy, and another is mad, he thought to himself.

“I wanted to let you know that I’m not going to listen to Drew. I mean, I want to be your friend still, if you still do?” Lily smiled at that. Her green eyes were sparkling again and Luke felt warm allover.

“You wanna go flying? Nice day.”

“Yeah, sure, but I thought you had something to do?” Luke smirked.

“You git, come on. I know a great place where we can go to talk after an exhilarating broom ride.”

Luke hid from Drew behind corners and down corridors while Lily laughed at his antics. He was trying to make her laugh, but he was also serious. He wasn’t ready to face Drew’s wrath. They made their way outside and almost immediately, it was apparent that Lily was an excellent flyer like her father. She was also wild and crazy on the broom, much like Harry too. Luke kept up with her and they were having a marvelous time, playing chicken with the whomping willow by the college and just fucking around, like kids do. Lily finally pulled up and landed atop the castle. She sat down on the roof and Luke followed suit.

“Where are we? I mean, which part of the castle is this?” Luke asked. Lily smiled deviously at this.

“What? What’s so funny?” he asked. Lily laughed again and then banged her foot on the stone roof as hard as she could. Luke started to open his mouth to speak but Lily quickly covered his mouth with her dainty hand.

“Shhh, or she will hear us,” she whispered. A moment later they heard McGonagalls voice.

“Is there a student out here?” A pause and then, “Ruddy owls. I have to clean the bird droppings off this sill twice a day!” Lily bust out laughing. They were sitting directly above the Headmistresses office. Lily pointed to the tree banch that was stuck in between the stones above the window. Lily had apparently placed a nice perch for the owls right above McGonagall’s window. The window sill below it was covered in bird shit.

“Are you sure you weren’t supposed to be sorted into Slytherin?”

“Are you sure?” Lily shot back at him.

“No.”

“Me either!” Lily giggled again.” I think that old hat is getting senile. There’s a lot of people in Gryffindor this year that clearly don’t belong there.” She paused, soaking in what was left of the warming sun’s rays. “So, back with the monster again, eh? How does it feel? It’s what you wanted isn’t it? I knew it was.”

“Yeah, I suppose I did… though… I don’t know how you knew. I dunno Lily, she’s different now. She wasn’t like this in America. Then again, I didn’t date her for long. I was too busy running away and turning myself invisible.”

“You are so mental Luke,” Lily smiled and fake punched his arm.“Well I know her pretty damn well. So you tell me what you like in a girl and I’ll tell you if that’s Drew. Would that help?” Lily asked.

“Yeah, I guess so. Lily you’re crazy, you know that?”

“Yeah I know. So go on.”

“Well I like a girl who is nice and funny and pretty and smart, yet not boastfully so, and who loves kids.”

“Well that counts me out!” Lily said.

“Why?” Luke was smiling the whole time he was talking to Lily and he didn’t even realize it. She made him happy. He felt his worries melt away when he was with Lily.

“Because I’m not smart and I hate bloody kids.” Luke bust out laughing.

“You are too smart. You hate kids?”

“Hate em! They pick their noses and their butts and they smell.” Luke was laughing so hard that Lily had to roll over on him and cover his mouth, as not to alert McGonagall.

“Don’t cover my mouth or I might bite your hand off,” Luke pretended to bite Lily and she struggled with him. The struggle ended with the two rolling on the roof laughing and when they stopped, Luke was laying on his side leaning over Lily. Their eyes met and time stood still and suddenly their lips were brushing against each other’s. Luke pulled away, in shock. He hadn’t meant to do that, but he wasn’t sure if he even had done it or if they had both done it at the same time. He wanted to apologize, but when he opened his mouth to speak, he found Lily’s mouth on his again. This time their tongues met and they were embroiled in a full on, passionate, snogging session.

“I know I hear students up there! “McGonagall shouted and Luke held Lily tightly and concentrated.

POP

They landed in the library. This was Luke’s very first side along apparition. He was delighted that he didn’t splinch himself, or Lily for that matter. He thought of the library, thinking it would be a quiet place to apparrate to. Hardly anybody was ever in the library. Unfortunately for him, Drew was on this day and she stood up from her seat and stomped over to the forms of Lily and Luke lying in an embrace on the floor of the restricted section. Drew was rattling the cage in the restricted section. Her eyes shooting daggers at Luke, as she yelled at them to open the doors. Luke and Lily ran behind a row of books, while Drew was thrown out of the library by the library attendant.

“What just happened?” Lily finally said to Luke.

“Uhh, I apparrated us here, because I saw McGonagall turn herself into a cat so she could scale the roof."

“Not that Luke. I mean this,” and Lily leaned in to Luke and kissed him softly.

Review!?

Everybody has been so awesome, I wrote two chapters today! And long ones at that hehe