.

.

"This is ridiculous," Chris grumbled. "None of them can tell the Quaffle from the Bludger."

"I don't know, that Ginny Weasley is pretty good." Niall shrugged.

Due to the fact that Harry Potter and Fred and George Weasley had gotten a ban from playing Quidditch, Angelina hosted another set of tryouts so the Gryffindor team could find a new Seeker and two new Beaters. So far, Ginny was the only one who was meeting the expectations that Angelina held for her team.

"Yeah, but to win the Cup we need the best of the best."

Niall quirked an eyebrow. "We've already played Slytherin, so that's the hardest out of the way. Sure, Ravenclaw are good, but not as good as us, and Hufflepuff should be a piece of cake.

"Yes, but what if Slytherin beat Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff too?" Chris sighed out. "Kat is really good, Niall, and if she teaches her team everything she knows—"

"Hang on," Niall intervened curtly. "Who taught her everything that she knows?"

Chris hesitated for a brief moment.

"Me." he admitted.

"Exactly. She's got nothing on you, mate." Niall said, proudly patting Chris on the back.

By the end of the tryouts, Angelina had appointed Ginny Weasley to Seeker and two boys named Andrew Kirke and Jack Sloper as Beaters, who weren't be any means astounding Quidditch players, but they were certainly better than the other idiots that had shown up despite the fact that they couldn't tell one end of their broom from the other.

"Our next game isn't until March. We can train them up by then." Angelina had said, but Chris was fairly certain that she was trying to reassure herself more than she was anyone else.

Although it was mind-numbingly cold outside, Chris was dreading going back to the castle, purely due to the fact that his dormitory recently housed a very tense atmosphere. The dorm was shared between seven boys: Chris and Niall, of course, Fred and George Weasley, Lee Jordan, Kenneth Towler and Oscar Whiterose, and ever since Chris and Oscar's most recent fight, which had taken place just over two weeks before, tensions in the dorm had been high.

Of course, none of the other boys knew why Chris and Oscar seemed to constantly be at each other's throats, for the only people that Chris had come out to were Hermione, Niall and Katerina, and Oscar, clearly, as they were involved in a very dramatic and rocky relationship. He wanted to tell his dorm mates that he was bisexual — he trusted that they would be accepting, but he was dreading the smothering amounts of pity that they would throw at him were he too reveal everything that was going on between him and Oscar.

It all started in fourth year when Oscar sheepishly asked Chris to attend the Yule Ball with him. On the night of the Ball, when they were dancing, a group of Slytherin boys shouted some rather homophobic slurs at them, sniggering as they done so, and Oscar took off, leaving Chris alone at the Ball. That was when Hermione found him, and Chris had been very grateful for the fact that she hadn't asked why he was upset and instead danced with him. During that dance, Chris came out to her, and she was very supportive.

Of course Niall was supportive as well — they were best friends, after all. Chris accidentally let slip that he was involved with Oscar, and Niall was thrilled, even threatening to fight the Slytherins that had mocked the pair at the Yule Ball.

Chris and Oscar's arguments were always sparked by the same thing; Chris was tired of sneaking around, tired of hiding their relationship. He didn't care what anyone said or thought, he just wanted Oscar to be his boyfriend, but Oscar refused, going so far as to say that they would never go public with their relationship, leaving Chris to believe that Oscar saw no future with him and that he would inevitably leave him for some Pure-blood witch.

Chris was sat alone in the deserted Gryffindor common room. Every since his most recent argument with Oscar, Chris understandably wanted to spend as little time with him as possible, so he would wait up every night until he was sure that Oscar was asleep, and only then would he climb up to bed, thoroughly exhausted, but not having to worry about confrontation with Oscar.

As the fire dimmed to a few mere sparks and it's only fellow light was that of the moon outside, Chris decided that it was time for him to go to sleep. He had just placed his hands on his knees and begun to lift himself up when the door that lead to the boy's dormitory opened. Thanks to the faint light of the pale moon, Chris could just about make out the minor details of Niall Murray's face.

Niall cast his gaze around before he finally spotted Chris sitting by the fire.

"Are you coming up?" Niall asked.

Chris got off the couch. "Yeah, I was just coming now."

Stretching, Chris started making his way towards the door, but paused when he saw that Niall was staring at him, frowning, a deep sadness in his eyes.

"What?" Chris said.

"It's just that..." Niall began hesitantly, "would you two not at least try to work things out?"

Chris heaved a deep sigh. "Honestly, Niall, I'm not sure it's worth it at this point. We get back together, he tells me that he doesn't want anything serious, even though he knows exactly how I feel, we fight, we break up, and the cycle starts all over again. Besides, it's not like I'm wallowing in sadness waiting around for him, so it's better if we're just not together."

Not knowing how to respond, Niall clapped Chris on the back, which Chris took as a sign of utmost affection, and the two began to climb the stone steps to their dormitory.

"What about Hermione?" Niall quizzed, keeping his voice down so he didn't wake any of his fellow Gryffindors from their slumber.

Chris could feel his face heating up at an alarming rate, and he was extremely grateful for the fact that there were no windows in the stairwell that allowed the moonlight to shine directly on his face and highlight his crimson cheeks.

"What do you mean?" he asked, trying to sound casual, but the spontaneous rising pitch of his voice told Niall that he knew exactly what he meant.

"Why don't you go out with her?" Niall elaborated anyway.

Chris let out a deep, dismal breath. "I don't think she really likes me like that—"

"She told you she likes you two days ago." Niall pointed out.

"Three days ago, actually," Chris corrected promptly, "and she followed up by saying that she's not looking for a relationship right now."

***

It was a very rare occurrence that Christian Blair would be spotted browsing the Hogwarts library. Most of his free time was spent either outdoors on the Quidditch pitch or causing mayhem throughout the castle with Niall, also often accompanied by the Weasley twins and Lee Jordan (although, compared to the other four, Chris was actually quite tame, and he was always the one to tell the others when they had taken a joke too far). However, leading up to the Christmas holidays, Chris had found himself with an avalanche of homework, so he went to the library to find books that may help him complete it. It was no surprise to him when he found Hermione sitting in the library, a book propped open on her lap, her nose tucked deep into it.

Chris chuckled as she approached and she remained indifferent to the sound of footsteps drawing close to her. He took notice of the way that, as she read, one of her eyebrows arched in concentration, and little creases appeared in her forehead every time she leaned forward to closely examine a particular intricate word, not to mention the way that her top lip would twitch every few seconds when she was focusing hard on something.

Deciding that he wasn't cruel enough to deliberately break her concentration, Chris made work of scouting the shelves for a book that might help him with his Potions homework. As soon as Hermione heard the faint sound of a book sliding off a nearby shelf, her head shot up, and Chris thought that, were she a cat, her ears would have also pricked up with curiosity. She beamed brightly when she saw Chris smiling shyly at her.

"Hi!" she said happily. "I haven't seen you for awhile."

"Sorry, did I disturb some really important research?" Chris asked as he sat down next to Hermione, opening a copy of One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi that he had just pulled off the shelf.

Hermione's smile only grew and she shook her head. "No, it's all right, I was just leisure reading."

Chris playfully rolled his eyes. "Of course you were. What are you reading?"

Chris peered at Hermione's book and saw the silver title that was printed onto the deep blue cover: Advanced Potion Making, Volume Two.

"Advanced Potion Making, Volume Two?" Chris frowned slightly. "But that's... that's N.E.W.T level, that is." he said weakly.

Hermione gave a nonchalant shrug and tried to look modest, concealing the growing blush on her cheeks behind her bushy hair. "Well, I got bored of Advanced Potion Making, Volume One."

Chris let out a sound that was halfway between a laugh and a sigh.

"How do you — where — how do you store so much information?" Chris inquired, amazed by Hermione's intelligence. "I mean, how does your brain not just explode?"

Hermione giggled quietly. "I don't think that's quite how knowledge works, Christian."

"I wouldn't know," Chris shrugged. He was still grinning admiringly at Hermione. "I'm a seventh year and I can barely brew Cure for Boils." he added with a sardonic snort.

"It's quite simple, really," Hermione began, clearly not catching onto the joking tone of Chris' voice. "You add six snake fangs to your mortar, crush them down to powder, add four measures of — oh... oh, you were joking."

Hermione's cheeks flushed a deep shade of scarlet and she lowered her head so far that it almost touched off the table. Chris, however, was still beaming at her in approbation.

"How you remember that is beyond me," he chuckled. "You're brilliant, you know that?"

"Yes, well, I do try," Hermione replied humbly, daring to look up as her cheeks faded back to their original fair olive tone. "How's Katie?" she asked, vaguely sadly. "I haven't seen much of her since... well, you know..."

"She's actually doing all right, y'know." Chris said.

"Yeah?" Hermione asked hopefully.

Chris nodded. "Yeah. I mean she's been upset, sure, but she's not about to let it ruin her life or anything."

"Do you think maybe Harry made a mistake?" Hermione questioned, her reluctance to ask this evident by the sudden quietness of her voice.

Chris had to think hard about this question for a few short moments — it wasn't something that had really crossed his mind. The reality of the situation was that Harry had broken up with Katie, and whether he regretted it or not, she seemed to be getting over him just fine, though sometimes they would wordlessly pass by each other in the halls and she would suddenly grow rather downcast.

"I think that if they're meant to be together then they will be." Chris stated finally.

Hermione let out a loud snort. "Destiny?" she derided. "Really?"

"I just mean that they'll both eventually realise that they made a mistake and get back together. At least, that's what I hope will happen. Honestly, as long as she doesn't start going out with that Malfoy bloke, I'll be satisfied."

Hermione raised her eyebrows. "You and me both." she sighed out as she turned to open her book again.

"I also think that," Chris continued hastily, feeling his mouth growing dry, "when it comes to... relationships and stuff," he cringed as he said that and Hermione looked up once more, "you should always go with your gut instinct."

Chris shifted closer to Hermione, and when he wasn't sure if she wanted to kiss him — her sudden inability to move and wide eyes could be expressing either eagerness or fear — he tenderly placed a hand on her cheek, and when she didn't pull away, he leaned forward and kissed her gently, carefully, as though she were made of glass.

For a few, short, euphoric seconds, Hermione kissed him back sweetly, but it was her who broke the kiss, frowning when she did so, which was not the response Chris would want to get after kissing someone.

Hermione hastily got to her feet, running a hand through her tousled hair that seemed to grow more bristly when she was under stress.

"Chris, I — I'm so sorry," she rambled, panicking. She began pacing back and forth. "I know it probably seems like I'm leading you on — I promise I'm not trying to, I—"

Chris abruptly jumped out of his seat. He took Hermione's hands in his own as an effort to calm her down.

"Hey, it's not like that at all," he said softly. "All three times, I've initiated the kiss, haven't I?"

Hermione nodded slowly while blinking away the few tears that had begun to form in her dispirited brown eyes.

"I just," she said heavily, "I really do like you, Christian, and I don't want to hurt you, but you know I'm still not ready for a anything."

"I know, I know," Chris said, cupping her face gently. "I'm sorry I shouldn't have done that."

Hermione shook her head. "It's OK. I can't say I'm complaining." she added, and both of them chuckled lightly.

Chris picked up One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi and examined it with an expression of utmost loathing etched onto his face.

"You know what?" he said, tossing the book back down. "Homework can wait. Want to go ice skating on the Lake?"

Hermione grinned broadly. "Of course."

***

The next week passed by rather drama free. Hermione and Chris hung out quite often, although Chris respected her attitude towards being in a relationship and did not try to kiss her again, and they really enjoyed each other's company. As for Chris and Oscar, they were slowly beginning to speak to each other again, though all hopes of a relationship seemed to be diminished, and Chris was truthfully all right with that. What were the chances he would spend the rest of his life with someone he went out with during his school years, anyway?

Or, what if the person he was to spend the rest of his life with had been right in front of him all along?

"Chris!" Niall called. "Are you coming down or what?"

"Yeah, yeah, coming." Chris grumbled as he ran down the stairwell two steps at a time, stepping into the common room that was unusually crowded for this hour in the morning.

"Oh." Niall said blankly upon laying eyes on Chris, who, growing nervous that something was the matter with him, began examining his robes for stains or rips.

"What?" he asked apprehensively.

"Your hair is doing a thing." Niall told him, pointing to the mop of dirty blonde curls that rested on top of Christian's head.

"What do you mean?" Chris quizzed, aimlessly slapping the top of his head.

"Here, let me." Niall snorted, reaching out to rectify a certain clump of Chris' curls that had flailed askew and made it look like a bird was nesting inside of his hair.

Oscar came down the stairs behind them, his eyes swept over Chris and Niall, he upturned his nose, let out a huff of indignation, and marched off. Niall and Chris watched him go with their eyebrows raised.

"I mean, he did have his chance with me," Chris shrugged. "I don't know what he's getting so worked up about."

"Totally," Niall agreed. "You deserve way better than him, mate."

Chris and Niall had barely stepped through the portrait hole when Niall let out a loud gasp, which Chris thought was quite the dramatic reaction, considering his reasoning for the gasp.

"I left my Potions homework on my bed!"

Without another word, Niall turned on his heel and raced back into the common room — Chris wasn't quite sure why he went so fast. It was, after all, very early in the morning, and it wasn't as though they were going to be late to class or anything.

Chris' stomach gave an aggressive growl and Chris decided that he wasn't going to wait for Niall — he could catch up to him in the Great Hall. Chris set off down the Fat Lady's corridor, which was completely deserted, or so he thought.

As Chris made to round a corner, he heard a murmur of voices and, curiosity getting the better of him, he pressed himself flat against the wall and strained his ears to try and eavesdrop. It was soon evident that the hushed voices belonged to both Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape. Realising this, Chris grew even more interested in the ongoing conversation that he could hear relatively clearly from around the corner.

"Dumbledore believes that Potter and Blair's dreams are linked. But how — Potter saw Arthur Weasley get attacked when he was miles away and Blair — well, Blair saw her missing brother being tortured. Oh, Severus, you don't think the dreams are linked to You-Know-Who, do you?"

"That seems to be what the Headmaster thinks."

"Well, I suppose it makes sense about Potter, but Blair—"

"There are many things I could tell you about Katerina Blair that would give you quite a shock, Professor McGonagall."

Christian's heart missed a beat. What deep information could Snape possibly know about his sister?

"I think I can handle it."

"Well, for one, she is not a Blair, her birth name is—"

There was a gleeful wheezing overhead, drowning out whatever Snape had said next, much to Chris' burning annoyance. Looking up, he saw that Peeves was the source of the racket; he was hurtling down the hallway, throwing ink bottles, which smashed, splattering ink all over the walls. Chris narrowly managed to dodge one bottle that came charging straight for his face.

"PEEVES!" McGonagall roared.

Knowing all too well that were he to be caught standing there, Snape and McGonagall would know Chris had been eavesdropping and he would get a week of detention, so he whipped around and bolted in the other direction -- he would have to take the long way to breakfast, but maybe he would meet Niall along the way.

As well as being ridiculously furious that he had just been denied the truth about his true parentage, Christian's head was overflowing with new information, even if the conversation that he had heard a snippet of was only short.

Katie had another vision, and so did Harry, and Dumbledore thought these two visions were connected.

Dumbledore also trusted that the visions were directly linked to Lord Voldemort, which was certainly not a comforting thought.

And perhaps the most shocking piece of news that Chris had received, Snape knew who Katerina's biological father was — he knew who Christian's biological father was.

Sharply turning a corner and narrowly avoiding smashing straight into a wall, Chris spotted a head of familiar bushy hair, accompanied by a sheet of shiny yet somewhat disheveled dirty blonde hair, both of them bobbing, side-by-side down the corridor.

"Kat!" he called out.

Chris took off at a sprint, relieved to see that Katie was all right, and threw his arms around her with such force that she staggered backwards and almost tumbled over.