The Forging of the Bonds

Chapter 12. Results and consequences.

Elizabeth was bored. Her father had to leave before she awoke, and Nadine had visited earlier, but couldn't stay, having received detention from Professor Flitwick. And Madame Pomfrey insisted she spend the night here. She knew better than to argue with the nurse. If she did, Pomfrey would just give her a sleeping potion. She didn't like those.

"Miss Malfoy, you have a visitor," Pomfrey said. Then she left. Who could it be?

Weasley walked in and sat down on the chair next to her bed. "Hi," he said.

"Hi," she replied. What's he playing at?

"Are you all right?"

"I will be, as soon as Pomfrey lets me out."

"Bored?"

"Yeah, I'm--how did you know?"

He laughed. "Do you have any idea how many times I've been here? Half my Quidditch matches ended in injuries."

"Might have been more than half, if they let me play."

"Why don't they?"

"Goyle doesn't think girls should play Quidditch."

"So he'd rather get creamed by every other team? I mean, he himself is a decent Beater, but Smith is pathetic."

"I know. I could do much better. For that matter, I could be a better Keeper than the one we had last year."

"Oh? You think you can hold against me?"

"We should find out sometime."

"Maybe we should," he agreed.

"So how did we do?"

"In what? Oh, you mean the Tournament."

"Of course I mean the Tournament, Weasley. Are we in last place?"

He cursed. "Unfortunately, yes. Durmstrang won, of course--even though McGonagall took off points for their tactics."

"What tactics?"

"One of the twins tried to stun me as I was getting the pole. You probably didn't notice."

"I had other things to concern myself with, Weasley--like the hydra."

"Don't blame you. Anyway, he tried a stunning spell, I got a shield charm up just in time. He couldn't wait to do anything more, and retreated."

"That bastard!" She couldn't contain herself. "He would have left me to finish the whole thing alone!"

"That was probably his plan. Didn't work, but they got into the boat and made it back first. So, Durmstrang. Forty-one out of fifty. And five of the ones they lost were taken off by McGonagall."

"You're kidding. She gave them five out of ten?"

He nodded. "Klausberg was outraged. He thinks McGonagall had no right to take off points for doing something completely within the rules. Not to mention it didn't work."

"What about Beauxbatons?" she asked.

He smiled. "They had a rather... creative strategy. They placed all sorts of calming charms on the boat, and moved as slowly as they could, hoping to avoid disturbing the hydra altogether."

"Why didn't I think of that?" Elizabeth said.

"Don't worry, it didn't get them all the way through. They got there all right, but either the charm failed or they actually hit the hydra, because it attacked them when they were heading back. It destroyed their boat. So they distracted it with Conjunctivitis curses and went underwater with bubble-head charms--like I did. But since both of them could swim, they got back much faster."

"I've already heard about the crocodile. Why did you choose that, of all things?"

He shrugged. "Seemed a good idea at the time. I guess it was."

Since it probably saved her life, Elizabeth couldn't disagree. "So how did Beauxbatons do?"

"Thirty-eight out of fifty. This time, Klausberg was the major penalizer. Gave them three."

"Three?" Elizabeth was incredulous. "And the rest?"

"Nine from their headmistress. Eight from McGonagall, nine from my uncle, and eight from Patil."

"You think having your uncle on the panel will help us?"

"Doubtful, especially in our case," he said. "Compared to Uncle Percy, my father can be considered the Malfoys' friend."

Silence descended between them. After a while, Weasley broke it. "If anyone on the panel is

predisposed towards us, it's McGonagall."

She wanted to ask about the points they got, but a completely different question came out of her mouth. "Why does your father hate my father--and me?"

He stared at her for a long time. "I don't really know," he finally said. "My parents never talk about their school years."

"Neither does my father."

"You think Professor Potter would know about it?"

"Probably. But will he tell us?"

"I don't know."

"So," Elizabeth asked, "how far behind are we?"

"Thirty out of fifty," Mike replied. "Klausberg gave us one, McGonagall eight, Patil seven, and both my uncle and Delacour six."

She looked at him.

He shrugged. "Told you my uncle wouldn't favor us."

"I want to win this tournament, Weasley."

"So do I. They told us we'll need the pole for the next task, and I have no clue what it's for."

"Well, we'd better figure it out."

"I know." He got up. "See you later, Elizabeth."

"See you later, Michael."

Only later did it occur to her that this was the first time they called each other by their first names.