Prophecy

Prophecy, 2^nd year

Meetings and agreements.

Late that night, two windows opened in the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and eight shadows flew out of them. They weren't really shadows of course, but since they were dressed in the dull black Manticore uniform, that is all anyone would have seen.

They landed just short of the forest. "I have something for all of you, and don't let anyone know you have them," sent James. He opened a sack he'd been carrying, and passed each Chimera their pistol.

"What are you doing with these?" asked Adam, as he took his and checked the safety. "I thought we had to leave all the Muggle things behind."

The eight were checking the weapons and loading them as they listened to James. "Think about it. Alexander taught me paranoia, did you really think he'd leave us completely unarmed, in case of an emergency?"

They had to concede that point. "I've got the point, Tiffany will be the tail guard, and I want Adam and Hangeld flanking us. Remember, the pistols may not work here, so you four in the middle, I want your wands out. Rose, you know what you need to do, and Melissa, I want to know if anything hostile approaches. Any questions?"

Nobody had any questions, and they lifted off, staying about ten feet off the ground. James reached for Nightrunner, and linked with the wolf long enough to make sure the unicorn hadn't moved during the day, and then released him to go hunt for his dinner. He found Tammarrion and called her to him. She settled just over his head, and he used her night vision to watch the forest ahead. It was a little disturbing at first, seeing the world in shades of black and white, but he was used to it by now, and they went on. Tiffany was doing the same thing, but watching the back trail, so that nothing could follow them. Her owl was a local forest owl, which she had started practicing with after she figured out how to do it from James's mind.

Most of the group's information was limited to the reports from James and Tiffany, and the various sounds and lack of sight had them jumpy. After all, this forest was forbidden because it was dangerous, not because it was dark. Rose was looking down the Paths of now, just a few seconds ahead of when they actually were, so she could give warning of anything that might happen.

Rose was the first to see the clearing, and what waited there. "James, there are Centaurs in the clearing ahead."

James sent Tammarrion ahead, and then around the clearing to see if they could get around without intruding on whatever the Centaurs were doing.

"You can come out, Humans, we know you're there, and we want to talk to you." James wasn't sure which Centaur spoke, but he was certain that Chimera was the only group of humans in the Forest tonight. Giving an order down the link, he moved forward, leaving Chimera behind.

James came to a stop about ten feet in front of the Centaurs, and at a level that put everyone's head even. He studied the Centaurs, as they looked at, and past him.

"Good evening," he said, "How can we help you?"

One of the Centaurs, a grizzled older male, moved to the front of the group. "We know what comes, and for once it affects us all, not just the humans. Writ large in the night sky are the names of the Eight Who Are One, and we would meet the Children of Prophecy."

James nodded, and had the rest of Chimera move up on line with him. As they settled into their line, the spokes-centaur asked, "Which of you is the Seer?"

Rose answered him. "I have that duty, and honor."

The Centaur moved forward and faced her. "You see the future clearly then?"

"Sight is not the stars, nor do I have the experience or training of you who watch the stars. I see possibilities of what can be, and we try to guide the Path into the possibilities that we want it to be in." Rose said, watching the Centaur closely.

The Centaur nodded gravely. "In guiding these Paths and possibilities, do you consider how it will affect the non humans?"

"I cannot. Unless I meet a being, or their path crosses a path I can see, I cannot see a single path among all the paths of what could be."

Again, the Centaur nodded as he considered her words. "So you have no idea how this event will affect the non humans."

"I've never met one of the nonhuman races, except the House-elves, and they are tied too closely to humans. Would you like to me to look forward for you now?"

"If you would, Seer."

Rose looked inside, finding her Path of now, and found the Paths of the Centaurs that were here. She followed the Paths as far as she could. One by one, she followed the four Centaurs Paths.

"For sometime to come, your Paths do not vary. In two and a half, three years, your Paths converge with a great many others. That convergence is a Pivot point, and I cannot see what happens at or past that point. Almost all the paths break into two main groups however. In the first, they break apart, and return to what they are now." Rose looked at the Centaur solemnly. "The other group of paths fades away into darkness after awhile."

The four Centaurs discussed what Rose had told them in their own tongue for several minutes. "You cannot tell then, what causes the division between Light and Shadow?"

Rose looked again, trying to pierce the multitude of paths. She had once described following a single path into a pivot point "like following one strand of spaghetti in a whole boiling pot of it." She looked back at them. "I'm sorry, but there are simply too many of them right now. Maybe in a year or so I will be able to see more."

The Centaurs spoke amongst themselves a few more minutes and the spokes being turned back to Rose. "During the next winter season, on the day you call Winter Solstice, will you come to us and try again, Seer?"

Rose and James conferred quickly, and Rose agreed to return on December twenty-first to try to See again.

While they talked to the Centaur spokes being, another of the Centaurs moved up and spoke to Melissa. "Your power will emerge soon Healer. When it does, if you would learn to heal the non humans, come to the edge of the Forest, and one of us will meet you."

Melissa nodded. "I will, if I may teach those skills to others of my Clan."

The Centaur looked at Melissa gravely. "You know that one that can Heal can also hurt."

Melissa raised her head, a flash of anger quickly swallowed by pride. "In all my Clan's history, only two of us have so abused their power, and we dealt with them."

The Centaur cocked his head sideways, in a move that reminded them all of Emily. "I do not believe your Clan kills, Healer. How then, were you able to deal with them?"

Melissa looked at Chimera, and sighed. She turned back to the Centaur. "You know," she said somberly, "that some humans have burned themselves out, and become unable to do magic at all." The Centaur agreed that such things had happened.

"What they do by accident, we can do deliberately."

Chimera froze, staring at Melissa as the Centaur moved back to his group. "Are you serious?" asked Adam nervously. "Can you really destroy whatever makes us wizards?"

Melissa sent, "Yes, any Healer can do it, but we've only done it twice and both times it was a Clan thing, so I would really appreciate it if we kept this secret."

Hangeld shivered at the thought of losing all his magic. "I don't even want to think about it."

The four Centaurs said their good byes and moved off into the forest. Chimera moved across the clearing to the injured Unicorn. James, Rose, Adam and Lisa set up an overwatch while Emma and Tiffany helped Melissa bandage the Unicorn's injury and Hangeld rigged a large litter to carry the Unicorn in.

Moving the Unicorn to Hagrid's hut took very little time, and Hagrid was soon treating the animal. He looked at Chimera. "I will not ask where or how you found the wee beastie, but in an hour, I'll be walking the grounds, and I would hate to have to report anyone I find out of their Houses."

Chimera took the hint, and headed off to bed.

On March fifteenth, Ravenclaw easily defeated Hufflepuff in Quidditch and the House cup was down to the Gryffindor/Slytherin game. If Gryffindor defeated Slytherin, they would take the House Cup. If Slytherin won, the Cup would go to the House with the most points, and currently, Ravenclaw was leading by fifty-seven points. After that, Ravenclaw would play Slytherin (If they lost) for second and third place in the Cup standings.

James and Rose were avidly waiting the match. For the first time, they would face off against another set of twins as Beaters. Marlin and Larry Jerrands were seventh year students, and had been the Slytherin Beaters since their second year. They were widely acknowledged as the best Beaters in Hogwarts, even with a reputation for occasional brutally double-teaming.

Adam was always scribbling on scraps of paper, notebooks, and anything else that came to hand, as he tried to create new plays that used the link to its best effect.

Rose and Melissa spent several hours with the eight candidates for Manticore, and passed the six first years quickly. Carey Fudge, grandson of Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge was a different matter. Rose reported to James that he was a null, not affecting any path she could find. Whether he joined Manticore or not, he simply never made any difference in any future path.

James asked what was wrong with him in Melissa's hearing, and she scolded him for nearly an hour. Aside from the invective, discussion of James's arrogance, and arm waving, the actual message was short. Most people led ordinary lives, never affecting the world in any measurable way, but that didn't mean there was anything wrong with them. They were just ordinary people. James apologized to Melissa for his phrasing.

Carey might not mean anything to the world in general, but James was determined to give him some self-confidence, and included him in the group that would be told about Manticore.

Dirk Clave was another story. Rose and Melissa came away from their interviews with him conflicted. He would make an acceptable Linked team member, or a better Phoenix troop except for one thing. He did indeed talk to people that were not there, or that Rose and Melissa couldn't see or hear. Neither of their gifts found anyone there either.

On the other hand, his sponsor was correct. However he did it, when he was talking to the invisible people, he could find out what was going on anywhere in the world right then. James smiled at that, and set Emily to trying to figure out how he did it.

Rather, he tried anyway. For the second time in two days, another Manticore blew up at James. "I realize, you bloody git," she said, in a tone that made James feel about three centimeters high, "that since you don't sleep, barely eat and have a dual brain, you can work twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. Some of us however, are merely human." She then laid out all the things she was already doing, the time she needed to study the class work, and asked James when he expected her to add this project.

James looked at her schedule, and called Mercy over. They set the Phoenixes that weren't doing anything to helping Emily. While they didn't have her flair for research, or the analytical mind that could make sense of all of the data, they could do the footwork and find the books and scrolls she needed, as well as eliminating any obvious wrong choices.

A couple of days after Melissa lectured James, Rose took Melissa aside and explained something to her. Robert Evans had known that even if the Prophecy didn't happen in their lifetime, James would still be the one to run Cumulus. He had drilled James with a heavy sense of responsibility. When you ran a large multinational company, especially one that ran in both worlds, every decision you made could have serious consequences for dozens of people.

Cumulus had nearly a quarter million employees, contractors and affiliates in both worlds, and therefore, every decision had far reaching consequences. There was also the Guardianship of the Draconian Codex, but Rose couldn't tell Melissa about that. To put it very simply, James had been raised to consider everything as a major decision. He simply didn't understand that most people would never make decisions like that any more than he understood the way ordinary people thought about money.

To James and Rose, spending fifty-one thousand Galleons (60 rings x 850 Galleons each= 51,000) on the Manticore rings was simply a wise investment. To the average Manticore, that was roughly three years' pay at a good job, making the signet ring the most expensive piece of jewelry they would ever wear.

Melissa came away from their talk sobered. She had a long talk with April Erskine and was very quiet for the rest of the week. She knew about important decisions of course. Every Healer did. When to let somebody go, Heal this one or that one, let this person die with dignity and dozens more. Those decisions, however, were the exception, not the rule, and the idea of considering everything with that gravity sobered her. Melissa had often wondered why James and Rose seemed so mature for their ages, and now she was beginning to understand.

Two weeks before the Quidditch match between Slytherin and Gryffindor, Chimera brought the eight candidates for Manticore into the Hall and explained everything to them. They, like all the other people who had joined so far, were given a week to decide if they wanted to be a part of Manticore or not.

In the end, all of them joined, although Rose was fairly certain Carey only joined because James was involved, and Melissa said Carey had a huge case of hero worship for James. James was almost the only person in Hogwarts that took it for granted that Carey was just like everyone else. James didn't assume that the long time Carey took to make decisions was because he was slow, but because he was thinking all the way through the problem.

Dirk Clave was another sort of headache for Manticore. Whatever it was that allowed him to know what was going on right then in remote areas of the world was beyond the fledgling skills of Manticore. Melissa and Emily came to James. They wanted to tell April all about Manticore. Since she already knew about the links and bonds, she was the perfect experienced Mediwitch to help. James consulted with Rose and Tiffany, and the day before the Match, she was offered the same type of position Professor Dumbledore had.

The Gryffindor versus Slytherin Match was on a Saturday in early May. Rose woke that morning, and since Lisa was still working on her first cup of coffee, she dressed quietly and slipped out of their room. In the common room, she found James and Tiffany engaged in their favorite sport. "You two are aware we have a match this morning aren't you?" she said, still half asleep.

James's hand never slowed, as he opened his shields enough to show her that while they indulged in the hair care, they were going over what they knew about the Slytherin team, and discussing Adam's latest plays. "Way ahead of you Flower Child." sent Tiffany.

"I realize that you know everything James knows, but to me, that name is from a private joke between James and me, and your use of it is unwarranted and unwelcome." Rose was still not fully awake yet, and for just an instant, before she clamped down on her shields, Rose broadcast anger, hate, fear, jealousy and bitterness.

James and Tiffany were startled out of the Rapport. "Rose?" questioned James, as he got up and crossed the room to the windowsill she liked to sit in. He sat down with her.

"I'm sorry. I never meant for you to know about this, but I was not awake yet, and I was really not ready to hear your nickname for me from her."

James focused on the one part of that was most important to him. "When did we start keeping things from each other?" he asked quietly.

Rose looked at him sadly. "Ever since you started noticing how she looks, and her female form." Rose searched his face and eyes with her eyes, as if looking for traces of her brother. "You've gone somewhere, and I can't follow because of that damn Soulbond. We just don't think alike anymore."

James considered what she was saying, and the bitterness behind her words and he rubbed his chin. It was an errant thought; that he needed to shave again, that crystallized the problem for him. He cast a mirror spell on the window, and looked at the two of them. That they were related was obvious, but where twins had sat last year, there was now an older brother sitting with his younger sister.

"It's not fair to you is it Rose? I get a tighter Bond than even the one we share, and all you get is to watch me slip away from you."

Rose sighed, and began turning. James turned with her in a habit of long standing, so that they ended up back-to-back, leaning on each other. Rose relaxed into James and the two of them dropped all their shields on the twinbond, holding nothing back, in a way they had not done since James and Tiffany bonded. James felt the things Rose had hidden for so long. Her fear of being alone in her head, her worry for him and the aging of his other bond, and the loneliness she'd being feeling for so long.

"What can we do? You're bonded, and this thing we're doing is too important to let one or two people stand in the way."

It was James's turn to sigh, as he considered her words, and the emotions that drove them. "It does matter, Sister mine. I owe you an apology. I've let myself get away from you, and there is no excuse for that. We're going to fix that."

Rose smiled, and James could feel her spirits lift. "OK," she sent, "I don't know what you're going to do, but I have faith in you."

James grinned, and twisted suddenly, so that Rose fell into his lap. "In the meantime, Sister mine, I think it's been entirely too long since your ribs were counted."

Rose tried to pull away. "James, don't you dare."

The twins reached for each other's sensitive spots as Tiffany watched with amusement. James was bigger, but Rose was more devious, and knew exactly how to make him loosen up enough for her to attack again. The shrieks and laughter brought some of the early rising Gryffindors down the stairs to see what all the commotion was about, and so maybe twenty people saw the two of them separate, grab their wands and hex each other.

Two clouds of smoke enveloped the twins, and when it cleared there were two giant slugs where the twins had stood. One slug had red, white and blue 'racing' stripes the length of its body, and the other was covered in green roses. The laughter from the Gryffindors standing there brought most of the house down to see what was going on.

The two slugs were pushing against each other in an attempt to force the other slug into a corner. It soon became apparent that they were playing an old game, with rules known only to the two slugs. Gryffindor was just starting to bet on one or another of the slugs when the portrait hole opened, and Professor McGonagall stepped through. The sudden and total silence warned the two slugs, and they froze, with their eye stalks swivelled back toward the professor.

Professor McGonagall surveyed the overturned chairs and tables in silence. She looked down, where a liberal dollop of slug slime was centimeters from her right foot and spoke in a conversational tone. "I suggest," she said, as if seeing two giant slugs destroying the Gryffindor common room was an everyday thing, "that every student capable of walking disappear. Now."

The two-legged Gryffindors vanished, except for Tiffany who hesitated. "Professor, there's something..." Tiffany trailed off as the professor held a finger to her lips and pointed up the stairs. Tiffany looked at the two slugs, and went up the stairs. Professor McGonagall glared at the two slugs.

"I am impressed by the transfigurations. Excellent works for second year students. However, I am concerned about the noise and mess you have made of the common room." She stared at the slugs and sighed. "It's very hard to tell what a slug is thinking." She pulled her wand out and cast "Finite incanteum" on the two slugs.

James and Rose stared at each other, and then at Professor McGonagall. As usual, James's first thought was irreverent. "The professor makes a beautiful slug."

The Professor was a giant slug, much as the twins had been seconds ago. However, the professor was a calico marked slug, and judging from the way the eye stalks followed the approaching twins, not a happy slug either. James and Rose pulled their wands and cast the "Finite incanteum" together. James was talking before the professor was completely human again.

"It was not deliberate, it's a new prank enhancer we're testing. Tiffany did try to warn you. If a single person tries to break a prank, it transfers to that person."

Professor McGonagall sighed, and looked pointedly around the common room. "Breakfast is in twenty-five minutes. This room will be clean and ordered before then." She stepped back out the portrait hole, hearing the twins casting and the pounding of feet rushing down the stairs as she left.

She walked down the hall considering what the appropriate punishment for this would be. She finally decided to hold off until after the match to decide what she would do. She looked around, and smiled happily at the thought of today's match. The whole school had seen the skills of the linked players, and Gryffindor had the only fully linked team in Hogwarts. She wondered if Professor Snape would try to weasel out of their bet.

For more than fifteen years now, the two Househeads had been betting on every Gryffindor/Slytherin match. With Chimera as the Gryffindor house team, Minerva had a hunch that bet might be over.

The match was scheduled to begin at 1000, and by 0940, the stands were nearly full. The announcer, a fourth year Ravenclaw named Denise Crosby, was giving some facts and statistics before the match began.

"Good morning Quidditch fans. This morning Gryffindor plays Slytherin for the House Cup. Gryffindor has been favored in this match since their astounding performance against Ravenclaw earlier in the year, but only barely, as Slytherin's commanding performance against Hufflepuff was truly impressive."

Denise moistened her throat with a sip of tea, and started naming the teams. "Today's seekers are Tiffany Potter for Gryffindor and William Durington for Slytherin. Tiffany Potter, oldest daughter of Harry Potter and the third straight Potter to play for the Gryffindor house team is the odds on favorite in that pairing."

"Slytherin's chasers are Sonya Gebbs, Achmed Anari and Geri Newson. They'll be facing the team of Emma Weasley, Melissa Xavier and Gryffindor team captain Lisa Malfoy. Both sets of Chasers gave amazing performances in their earlier matches, using truly astounding strategies and today's match promises to be exciting."

Denise took another sip of tea as she checked the notes her friend Emily Kitchen had given her. "The Keepers are Hangeld Hagrid for Gryffindor and Team Captain Charles Witherspoon for Slytherin. On paper, Slytherin has all the advantages in this match-up, as Witherspoon has four years experience and nearly twenty matches to his record. Hagrid is playing in only his second match ever."

Denise's voice took on a teasing note. "Of course, the fact that Hagrid is nearly the size of the goals might even the odds a bit." A wave of laughter swept through the stands.

"Beaters for today are Larry and Marlin Jerrands, seventh year Slytherins, and James and Rose Evans, second year Gryffindors." She checked her notes again. "According to resident Ravenclaw researcher Emily Kitchen, this will be the first time in one hundred and sixty-five years that twins have met on the Pitch in the Beaters slots. Here again, the Slytherins appear to have the upper hand. The Jerrands have six years of experience, and a well-earned reputation for coordinated teamwork and occasionally brutally double-teaming other houses."

She drank some more tea and continued. "Gryffindor's Beaters, the Evans are mere second year students, who are rapidly gaining a reputation for excellent teamwork, although," and here her voice took on that teasing note, "only one of them has a reputation for occasional brutality." The laughter was mixed with murmurs this time. "What is not widely known, is that the Evans twins are no strangers to Quidditch competitions." Surprised talk ran through the stands as Denise accepted another page of notes from Emily. She gave the crowd a quick run down on the North American Jr. Quidditch League and the procedures that culled the fourteen best players from America and Canada.

"James and Rose Evans have been the Beaters for the winning Red team for the last three years, and their teammates have nothing but good things to say about their performance on the Pitch." Denise stressed the last three words, and the crowd, used to her style of announcing after a year and a half of it, quieted some so they would hear the rest of that sentence.

"However," she continued after a few seconds, "there were a number of complaints about small disks and pranks off the Pitch, that their teammates would like to talk to them about." The laughter rolled through the crowd again. That James and Rose were responsible for the wooden prank disks that were covering the school as well as a series of higher level pranks was an open secret. Everyone knew that they were the responsible ones, but nobody had caught them yet.

In the Gryffindor waiting area, where Adam and the team were going over the final plans, Chimera was laughing also, until James and Tiffany froze, identical looks of purely unholy glee on their faces, and in their thoughts. Rose felt the spike of James's emotions and groaned.

Emma looked at the twins. James was radiant, like a knight face to face with the Holy Grail. Rose on the other hand, was slumping in the chair, shaking her head and moaning. "What's with James, and why do you sound like Moaning Myrtle, Rose?"

Rose looked at Emma. "The last time he felt like that, we got sued."

Chimera, except for James and Tiffany, who were busy with their own thoughts, stared at Rose. "What did you get sued over?" asked Emma curiously.

Tiffany started giggling. James flushed, and evaded the question. "It was our first public prank, and it went a little wrong," he said, and now both the Evans were blushing at the memories. "It's a very long story. We'll tell you about it after the match."

Emma grinned at him. "I take it you have something interesting in mind for a prank."

James smiled again, and his emotions were laced with an evil glee. "Consider this if you will. The Quidditch stands are deserted most of the time, and we know the exact time and date that they will be full again."

Everyone except Tiffany was staring at James in shock. Lisa found her voice first. "You want to lay a prank on the stands. What about Professors, and the Headmaster?"

James was still smiling, and merely raised an eyebrow at Lisa, who buried her head in her hands. "Don't say it, Yank. I know what you're going to say. Calculated Risk."

James had a dreamy look on his face as he thought about it. "The whole school at one time. I'll have to think of something really good for this one, and since we're not playing in the next match, we'll get pranked as well."

James, Tiffany and Rose started plotting, and soon, all of Chimera was involved.

Outside, Denise was finishing the preliminaries. "Since Gryffindor is playing, Professor Flitwick will be the referee. Professor Potter says that is to avoid charges of favoritism toward his daughter's team." Denise smiled. "Personally, I think it's because he's afraid of what Madame Potter would do if he called a foul on Tiffany." More laughter spread through the stands, and both the Potters were among the laughing. Ginny Potter had loudly and sarcastically told off enough students that came to her with injuries caused by their own stupidity that her temper was fast becoming a school legend.

Denise got the start signal and the game began. "Ladies and Gentlemen, now entering the Pitch is the Slytherin team of Witherspoon, Jerrands, Jerrands, Anari, Newson, Gebbs and Durington." The Slytherin team flew around the Pitch once, and then waited.

The Gryffindor house team was introduced next. "And now, the Gryffindors. Hagrid, Evans, Evans, Malfoy, Weasley, Xavier and Potter."

The two teams faced off and Professor Flitwick took the team captains aside. James and Rose were facing the Jerrands. "Look Marlin. It's the Yanks." Larry's voice was falsely cheerful.

"Larry, I know they had to cross the Atlantic to get a decent education, but do we really have to let that sort in?" Marlins' voice was openly hateful and sarcastic, and Rose felt the anger starting in James.

Larry was just oozing sympathy. "Be nice Marlin. Think of it as charity for the underprivileged." The Jerrands smirked at their younger counterparts from Gryffindor.

James looked at Rose when the Slytherins stopped. "Insults, Rose. About"

Rose picked up the sentence. "Grade three, Brother."

"Definitely second rate."

"I hope James,"

"That they play"

"Better than they"

"Babble. Too true."

James smiled coldly at the rapidly flushing Jerrands. "Allow us to show you how to insult people properly," he said in a patronizing tone.

Rose started the insults. "James do you suppose they were this ugly before they started catching Bludgers with their faces?"

"Not unless their mother was a goblin."

"She couldn't be. Goblins only mate with beings that can count to eleven with their shoes on."

"So true, Rose. These two don't look smart enough to come in out of the rain."

James was waiting for the Bludger release while they insulted the Jerrands. When it came, the Slytherin Beaters were caught flatfooted as James and Rose lifted after the Bludgers. "Hey," James called back mockingly, "Are you two playing or what?"

James opened a link to Chimera. "Can y'all take control? I promise there will not be any Beaters or Bludgers to worry about."

Chimera felt the anger in James. Lisa was the first to speak. "What's going on, James?"

"These two freaks just insulted my country and my family. Rose and I are merely going to teach them the error of their ways."

Most of Chimera spared a second's pity for the Jerrands. James's fierce loyalty to his Family first and then his country was not a button you wanted to push. Those two had just pushed both of them at once. Emma didn't even think twice. "We can do it," she said happily, "and flying one on one against Sonya and them will be fun."

James and Rose had control of the Bludgers and were batting them to each other in a long-standing habit. "Sister mine, shall we mesh?"

Rose grinned at she knocked a Bludger back to James, watching the one he was hitting toward her. "Surely, Brother mine."

"Meshing" was a technique James and Rose had perfected after they had spelled their twinbond. They would drop all the things that made them separate, and for a time they could reach each other almost as deeply as the Soulbond. Rose opened her Sight, looking about ten seconds into the future. "Got them, Larry's low and right to you, going to break left." A dim memory of the Sorting Hat warning her about using the Sight for personal things crossed Rose's mind, but she ignored it. "Marlin's high left to me, going to break down and left."

Using the Bludgers, Rose's Sight and eleven years of twinbond and teamwork, James and Rose made the entire game a personal assault on the Jerrands. One of them would hit a Bludger, not at where a Jerrand was, but at where they were going to be. The other would do the same to the other Jerrand, and they would race to get into position to strike the Bludger that the other Evans twin had just hit.

Using the superior speed and nimbleness of the Starblades, the twins literally herded the Jerrands all over the Pitch. They completely ignored the other players, concentrating on the total humiliation of Larry and Marlin.

Denise was trying to watch everything at once, and with the help of Emily, mostly succeeding. "Quidditch fans, I have never seen a match quite like this one. Each position is playing separately from the others. The Gryffindor Beaters are in total control of the Bludgers and the Slytherin Beaters, to the point that I don't think the Slytherin team has even touched the Bludgers yet. The Evans twins are clearly the better Beaters, despite their youth."

She looked at the score, and then back at the game. "The score is fifty to sixty, with Slytherin leading, but Gryffindor has the Quaffle, and they're off. The Chaser's match is a thing of beauty. Both teams fly as if the Chasers for their team share a single brain, intricate maneuvers and split second timing dominate their play, and the whole match is an aerial ballet." She watched the Gryffindor Chasers long enough to be sure of what they were about to do. "I don't know what you call this move, but it's Gryffindor's best weapon. Malfoy is the top of a triangle, with Weasley and Xavier at the lower points. Now, all three Chasers head for the same point in the air, and they meet! They are all within a meter of each other, and spinning clockwise. Under the cover of the billowing robes, they're passing the Quaffle. Now they break apart, just fifty meters from the goal lines, and each of them is heading for a different goal, but which one has the Quaffle?"

Denise was watching the Chasers intently, and Emily had to pull on her robes twice to get her attention. "Direct your attention to the Seekers. They're both diving for a point in space, and yes, there's the Snitch!"

Tiffany had seen the Snitch first, but it had been far too close to Durington to risk going after it. She had been trying to work her way into a better position when William had seen it, and it became a race.

In the end, only luck gave Tiffany the Snitch and the win. She had not been close enough to catch the Snitch, and William would have gotten it, until it made one of those random darting moves, and moved right at Tiffany. Between the speed of the Starblade, the excitement of the moment and the speed of the Snitch, Tiffany misjudged the Snitch slightly, and it smacked into her hand while she was still reaching for it. The Snitch struck her little finger, breaking it, but Tiffany kept her grip on the Snitch.

"There's the Game! Gryffindor wins the Cup!"

Slightly higher than Tiffany, and on the other side of the Pitch, James's head whipped around as he felt Tiffany's finger break. He stopped, ignoring the Bludger, letting it fly by him toward Marlin, as he concentrated on Tiffany's injury.

Marlin was so embarrassed, humiliated and angry that he either didn't notice or didn't care the game was over. While almost everyone was watching the Seekers, Marlin smashed the Bludger straight at James's back. The Bludger struck James squarely in the back of the head, erasing his consciousness and the links.

James fell off his broomstick, and they both tumbled toward the ground.