Chapter 20 Chaos, Quidditch and family drama.

#42

Rodrick watched on, hidden under an invisibility charm. He was currently situated in the middle of the Slytherin stands. His eyes glanced towards the Professors stands, the majority of them not noticing anything odd going around. The seventh-year Ravenclaws, Slytherins and Hufflepuffs had been spread out amongst the rest of the stands filled with students. The spectators not from Hogwarts sat with the faculty of Hogwarts.

Usually, they either watched with their children or simply desired a place away from the staff for whatever reason. He knew there were some who simply came to enjoy the games as well support whichever house they were in. This ranged from previous Hogwarts Graduates to ministry employees with a day off. Surprisingly enough, it seemed the stands had charms on them to expand to prevent crowding.

Every other stand, however, was filled with students. He wasn't sure how the seventh years had managed that. Though worryingly, perhaps even somewhat humorous, enough, no one seemed to notice the change.

Looking down, his eyes found the two teams meant to play the game suddenly enter the pitch. When he turned back up, he couldn't help the grin. His eyes were avoiding the stand filled with the faculty and guests. The runes seemed to be in place. He'd asked the seventh years to have the stand prepared with three specific kind, or four if you counted the extra on the rest of the stands.

A notice-me-not charm, in rune form. To make sure the students bought the whole thing. It was harder to take something seriously if the faculty involved disagreed after all. They couldn't complain if they didn't notice it in the first place now, could they?

The second was naturally a silencing charm, it allowed them to enjoy the chaos about to unfold peacefully. Aswell as make sure any attempts to remove the runes would need to be done wordlessly. Which considering the amount of time they'd had to prepare the runes was rather impossible. Sure Dumbledore could probably do it, it'd still take too much time. It wasn't meant to be permanent.

The last one was the most important. An age line preventing them from leaving the stands. That had been the most difficult to bring about, in the end, it had been Farley's idea. He was glad they'd managed it, he wasn't sure he could've made it himself. Though to be fair he'd only recently started ancient runes. Considering how easy it had apparently been for the older years, Rodrick found himself worried as to what they'd considered 'difficult'.

Shaking his head, a small smirk quickly etched itself onto his face. The hardest part had been completed. He idly watched as several seventh years quickly covered both sides of the professors stands, no doubt to prevent anyone from interfering. A precaution really. While he had no doubt the runes would hold, it didn't hurt to be careful.

...

Dumbledore sighed as he turned towards his fellow wizards and witches, watching as silent panic issued in place. He ignored his head of houses sudden frantic movement. The only wizard not yet panicking was surprisingly, or rather unsurprisingly, Sirius Black. The man had a grin on his face. Sighing he simply settled onto his seat, idly wondering what was about to occur. He could stop it, of course, he simply chose not to. The amount of effort that had been seemingly put in was commendable, it would've been a shame to simply remove it.

He ignored Lucius Malfoy's outraged face.

If only Rodrick hadn't decided the man needed to be on the same stand as him, it would've made the whole fiasco far more bearable. He knew the boy was responsible. Even his professors knew it was likely his fault. In fact, nearly everyone in that stand knew he was responsible.

Sighing, a wistful smile on his face, Dumbledore turned towards the middle of the pitch, his eyes catching Madam Hooch as she approached the middle of the pitch.

Dumbledore blinked, that wasn't Hooch. Where was his flying instructor?

'Rodrick what have you done now...' Dumbledore thought with a sigh. He couldn't exactly make a sound.

...

Rodrick watched, an eager look in his eye as Farley reached the middle. The girl polyjuiced to look like the missing referee for the game. It hadn't been difficult to keep the woman indisposed. He really hoped there wasn't a law against stunning your coach and hiding them in a closet. Though in all fairness, she wasn't exactly his coach, hell he rarely, if ever, interacted with the woman.

...

Farley raised a wand to her throat before casting the Sonorus charm. She had to hide the urge to laugh at the look of confusion on Wood's face. Both teams were still on the ground, awaiting her whistle to begin the game. With the notice me not preventing the players from even noticing the other professors, Madam Hooch was essentially the only person who could dictate the rules.

"Today marks the final game between Ravenclaw and Gryffindor," With that, Farley activated the last set of runes. She watched with an amused expression as every student, from every house was suddenly transported to the middle of the pitch. Those that expected it, anyone not wearing Gryffindor robes, landed with dignity. Well, besides the head girl.

"As a result, I have decided to make it a bit more interesting," Farley remarked easily, she knew she wasn't really acting like Madam Hooch though in all fairness no one really knew what the woman was like, besides the fact she controlled the game, she rolled her eyes as the Gryffindors quickly started acting up.

"Attention!" She suddenly exclaimed, quickly settling down the Gryffindor student outburst. Earning affronted looks from all of them. As well as laughter out of the other houses. Noticing that seemed to calm the lions down somewhat.

"Today, there are no rules."

The five words sending the pitch into silence. The Hufflepuffs quickly joined the Gryffindors in confusion. That hadn't been what they expected.

"Aside from the laws of course." She added with a wave of her hands. She could've sworn a Puff sighed in relief at that.

"As you may have noticed, each of the houses will be joining this particular game. If any opposing houses wish to cooperate with one of the teams, they may though the team affected will not be granted any points in the overall standings."

More shocked silence as each student quickly took the implications of the words. The Slytherins quickly moving along to the Ravenclaws side of the field, showing off their intentions.

Gryffindor, particularly Harry Potter, realised with a start. Ravenclaw was throwing away their chance at the cup. They were at the bottom of the rankings. The odds of them getting the Quidditch cup were non-existent.

"The only houses gaining any points out of this will be one of the two meant to be playing, unless of course, they accept another houses help," Farley remarked casually with a smile. Shouts of unfairness quickly filled the stadium as Gryffindor realised they were going to be outnumbered.

"As I stated earlier, there are no rules. There is no limit to the number of players in any team, each wizard or witch can support their favoured team in any way they want." She then turned towards Ravenclaws captain, "I take it you are willing to accept Slytherins help?"

The seeker quickly nodded with a grin. It was his sixth year at Hogwarts, he might as well finish it off with a win, even if it didn't count. The fact Rodrick had promised him one of his special quills had nothing to do with it whatsoever. Even if it did. He had NEWTs the following year...

Farley turned to the increasingly nervous and rather irritated cubs, "Do you wish to accept Hufflepuffs help?" She questioned Wood, who shook his head resolutely. Farley didn't question the fanatic look on the Gryffindors face, almost eager for the challenge as he turned towards his housemates.

Even with all of Gryffindor, it was still a two to one advantage in terms of numbers.

"Very well then, any points scored by Hufflepuff will not affect the game, any assists by the house will reduce the points earned. If a Hufflepuff catches the snitch no points will be given to Gryffindor. As Ravenclaw has accepted Slytherins help in this case they are not affected."

The looks of horror on most of the younger years quickly turned on the referee before changing towards the Slytherins.

"You were not kidding," Nott calmly remarked to Daphne, who simply shook her head.

Her boyfriend was a lunatic.

"No, no she wasn't." Tracey chuckled.

"Let the game begin!" Farley whistled off.

...

Harry Potter stood in the middle for a few moments before almost everyone started moving around frantically trying to get in the air, none of his house beside the team had brought their brooms.

Looking towards the other side, he realised Slytherin had definitely planned this as he watched the entire house of snakes seemingly bring brooms out of nowhere, when he turned towards the Ravenclaws, he found the same.

"Oh, crap." Were the only words he could think off as he lifted off. There were 11 Gryffindors on brooms. There were 4 times that many on the other side.

"Hello Potter," He heard Malfoy call out to him with a glint in his eye.

As the chaos started unfolding, Harry quickly realised what having no rules meant as he dodged a hex meant for him, looking towards the ground he frowned when he didn't find the attacker.

The simply hex, however, had sent all four houses into a frenzy, he watched as his house quickly followed suit from the ground as they started hexing the students with brooms. In an attempt to find the means to help their house. Inwardly groaning, Harry set about looking for the snitch. Gryffindor was behind Hufflepuff by 10 points, who were behind Slytherin by 20. That meant they needed at least 30 points over Ravenclaw to win the cup... When he'd woken up he hadn't been worried.

Seeing a Slytherin score the first goal for Ravenclaw quickly changed his mind.

...

It took three minutes before the Quidditch pitch was thrown into complete chaos, Ravenclaws and Slytherins attacking from the sky and ground, hexes flying in every direction. One student had the gall to conjure a sword to stop a bludger while another had decided to engorge his beater bat.

While somewhat late in their reaction, to Nott's surprise, the Gryffindors quickly caught on. He wasn't sure how, but there were now 20 of them in the air. The ground littered with students trying to hex the other side. Hufflepuff was caught in the middle, unsure whether to help Gryffindor or not. They couldn't exactly help Ravenclaw, it would've been far too unfair.

The pitch was a mess, students from every house scattered randomly on the field, there were some on the floor either stunned or unconscious already.

Shrugging that off, the lanky Slytherin quickly ran towards one of the more well known Hufflepuffs. His part in all this? He had to gain the houses loyalty.

"Peace!" Nott remarked quickly raising his hand up at the small group of Hufflepuffs.

Cedric eyed the boy warily before wincing as his shield took another random stunner, turning he quickly stunned the attacker, another Ravenclaw, the house had been moving in pairs, so far there were more Slytherins in the air then Ravenclaws, the ground consisted mostly of Gryffindors and his own house. His small group consisted of two others, one of which had just taken down the other bird.

"What do you want?" He questioned warily, this hadn't been what they agreed to at all.

"I didn't know this was what they meant, figured it was unfair and all," Nott shrugged.

"You're a Slytherin," The one beside him accused.

Nott scratched the back of his head, idly ducking under a reducto. "Don't mean I agree with em, trying to make things fair,"

Cedric raised an eyebrow at that, "Fair?"

"Gryffindor won't accept our help," another voice added.

Nott shrugged. "Scoring isn't the only way to help." He added on with a smirk, raising his wand, to the surprise of the others as he shot down one of the Ravenclaws in the sky

"See?" Nott smiled. "What do you say?"

"You want to team up with us?" Cedric questioned.

"Sure, been getting called a Hufflepuff for a while, can see why now," Nott added on. "Should probably go get more of your house, less chance of them getting hurt in a group." It was honestly the hardest thing he'd ever had to say. How Rodrick acted his way out of almost everything was mindboggling.

Cedric quickly nodded at that as the four started moving.

...

Fred had a manic grin on his face as he batted away the incoming bludger, he watched as the thing practically shoot off at another Slytherin, taking them down. The bat on his hand enlarged to thrice its size. A weightless charm keeping it light as a feather. Gryffindor was down 60 points, though the other side's scoring efficiency had dropped drastically with each lost member. Each time one of them went down, a Gryffindor came up. Wood had asked everyone to fall back, play it defensive until they were more on equal ground. As soon as he'd heard that, he and his brother had decided to confiscate all the beater bats. His eyes lit up as he realised bludgers weren't the only things he could hit.

Even his stick of an older brother had loosened up, quickly taking charge of the rest of the house. On the ground, his youngest brother taking charge of anyone with a wand, the boy seemed excited at the prospect of hexing snakes. Ironically enough, his youngest sister had actually scored them thirty points. It seemed Gryffindors simply had a knack for the game, even against bad odds.

...

Malfoy gritted his teeth in annoyance, his only job was to find the snitch. He wasn't sure why, but he felt as if the point margin should've been far higher. Due to Gryffindor 'borrowing' their sides brooms they in effect wound up playing with better brooms then they and the houses they played against were used to.

As things stood, they had half the Ravenclaws compared to the start of the game. Gryffindor having lost two students, students not even apart of the team. Ravenclaw, on the other hand, had managed to lose 7 of their house's quidditch team, the total number of knocked out birds was almost uncountable. Anyone forced to go on the ground weren't exactly out of the game per say, they could technically still help them by firing off hexes at the Gryffs flying around, unfortunately, Hufflepuff had kept them busy. While unable to score to help the cubs, they could still stop any further help from the ground.

He flinched as he watched a hex fly past his face, inches away. Looking down, he glared at Nott. The boy had a grin on his face as he prepared to fire another at the only remaining seeker on their team. Before he could dodge, however, his eyes widened at the approaching Gryffindor. They narrowed the moment he realised it was a Weasley... With a sword. Where the hell did he get that!?

...

On the ground, Rodrick grinned with glee as he took out another Hufflepuff with a quick stunner, he was still hidden under his invisibility charm. He knew the moment he showed himself, almost everyone, whether friend or foe would turn on him. Mostly because he'd been taking out students indiscriminately. Either to keep the teams balanced or because it was more fun that way. He wasn't sure. Though he knew for a fact the first person he'd taken out was Warrington. He was rather disappointed Gryffindor was only 70 points behind... While they had fewer numbers on their side, they were the only house with Seventh years, the others too busy keeping the professors and spectators at bay

His eyes quickly caught onto Nott's group, it seemed they'd managed to go from a party of four to eight. Nott had been going around, leading Cedric Diggory to any and all targets he'd considered 'easy.' He lost count of how many birds and snakes the badger had taken down.

...

Dumbledore really wasn't sure what to think anymore. The professors around him had long given up on the looks of horror at the chaos, now it seemed they were silently cheering whenever their own house did, well, anything. From taking out a chaser with a bludger to chasing a Malfoy with a sword. At some point, he'd seen one of the Weasley twins forgo batting bludgers in favor of batting students.

Sirius Black was in the front with one laughing fit after another. Thanks to the silencing runes, it looked somewhat disturbing, the only one willing to stand by him was his longtime friend. Remus Lupin, who had a distraught and tired look on his face as he took in all the chaos going on.

Dumbledore sighed heavily as he watched far too many snakes get summoned out of thin air.

...

Harry Potter saw the snakes and immediately started hissing, as he flew down, Gryffindor was down 90 points. Whenever they'd thought it was time to start pushing back, something had always gotten in the way. He finally found the cause. It was time to start playing dirty.

...

Rodrick blinked as he watched all the snakes turn on him, frowning, he raised his wand in an attempt to banish them before they suddenly found him with their sense of smell. As he was about to utter the spell, however, he turned up on instinct. His eyes quickly widened as he watched Harry Potter rocket towards his location. Before he could respond in kind, preferably with the Reductor curse, his eyes narrowed as he watched Harry speed up, 'What on earth is he trying to-' Before he could even finish the thought, however, he winced as Potter grabbed him with an outstretched hand and decided to take him for a flight.

As Rodrick looked down at the ground, slowly distancing itself from him, he could really only say one thing.

"Potter what the hell do you think you're doing!?" He screamed, his hands quickly latching onto the arm around him.

"You might wanna get on the broom," Harry cheekily remarked, slowing down slightly as Rodrick managed to get himself somewhat stable.

"Put me down this ins-" Rodrick barely had time to remark before he had to grab on to the slowly condemned wizard in front of him as he felt himself speed off on the insanity called a Firebolt.

...

For a few moments, every wizard and witch on the ground looked up at the sudden screams.

"Is that... Is that Rodrick!?" Daphne questioned somewhat startled.

Luna nodded. Before jumping to the side as another hex flew their way, people were generally avoiding them as they didn't have brooms. Though some still seemed to want to hex them for the colours of their robes. She'd been in a group of four with Daphne, Blaise and Astoria. The lot moving around the outskirts of the field slowly, they had no intention of attacking anyone. Blaise did. Though for some reason, the boy seemed adamant in making sure they didn't get hurt, it was rather noble if she was honest.

Blaise had a thin line on his face as he watched Rodrick get flown around by Potter like a ragdoll, he honestly wouldn't be surprised if the boy-who-lived accidentally created another dark lord. As for him being where he was?

He really wanted that quill.

"That looks like so much fun," Astoria pouted.

"I don't think Rodrick agrees..." Daphne remarked with a frown on her face. That was honestly just cruel of Potter if she was honest. Completely ignoring the fact, Rodrick had, in essence, brought it on himself.

"Potter! Put me down this instant!" They heard another incoherent scream echo through the sky as Harry Potter skillfully dodged one hex after another. Grabbing Rodrick had put a target on his back the size of an engorged giant. The other Slytherins were not amused.

Before Rodrick could let loose a profanity however, he felt himself tense up, his eyes widened slightly as he felt his curse start acting up on it's own. He had forgotten the fact that contact was one way to transfer the curses magic as he'd done with Astoria.

With how unfocused he was thanks to Harry's stunt, not that he was capable of controlling all that well regardless, this was the first time it acted on something that was most likely curse-free

The effects while temporary generally dispelled any thing it came into contact with. In this case, it dispelled the charms on the broom he was on.

The safety charms on the firebolt.

Harry's expression quickly went from a grin to wide eyed shock as the firebolt somehow got even faster... Much, much faster.

Everyone watched the two third years speed up quickly as Harry darted from one end of the pitch to the other, a screaming Rodrick in tow. Though no one could really blame him.

The most surprising was the fact that even under the increased speed, Harry had still managed to manoeuvre around effortlessly, a manic grin on his face as he felt the rush of air against him.

And then the firebolt started slowing down.

Rodricks expression slowly calmed down as he felt the broom slow.

"Ground. Now." He snarled.

Harry had a bemused expression as he felt the broom continuously slow, with a startled look on his face, he quickly started flying down much to Rodricks relief. At around 50 feet in the air, the broom stopped completely.

Rodricks small moment of peace quickly ended as he and the wizard in front of him started free falling down. Waving around his wand in panicked movement he quickly set off one of the most important spells he knew.

"Arresto Momentum!" The two wizards landed with a resounding thud on the ground, turning back up, Rodrick found every eye on the two of them.

"What are they lookin-" He was about to question before he turned to Harry and twitched at the sight of the golden snitch in his hand.

Harry grinned before wincing as he took a stunner head on. And another. And another. And another.

"Potter do that again and Voldemort loses his job."

"Gryffindor win." Rodrick sighed the moment he heard the words. Harry Potter while unable to actually move, inwardly smiled.

As everyone slowly calmed down from the whole event aswell as started flying back down, Rodrick made his way over to Draco Malfoy.

"You had one job." He remarked completely worn out from the flight of death as he started walking away. Idly noticing the runes on the stands slowly start to disappear. Before he could make it five feet however, he was surprised to see the expressions on the student faces around him. All over the pitch he could hear laughter of all things echo around. Even Slytherin didn't look too irritated at the fact they'd essentially lost the quidditch cup.

After a year like that, one wouldn't have expected the houses to be so cordial to each other, groups of students from every house intermingling with each other on the pitch. Some had taken to sitting on the ground, laughter and jokes flowing over the absolutely horrendous game they'd just had.

"Not what you expected?" He heard someone beside him speak up. He turned around and found Daphnes small group, all with amused expressions on their faces. Tracey had decidedly joined up with them.

"Not at all." Rodrick agreed.

"I think it's great," Tracey chuckled.

Rodrick rolled his eyes at the girls cheerful tone before smiling, he turned in time to see Harry Potter walk up towards him a sheepish smile on his face, behind him an irritated Weasley and flabbergasted Granger. He'd honestly never thought he'd see the last one.

"Sorry about that," Harry remarked, the look on his face suggesting anything but an apology.

"Who do I have to thank for unstunning you?" Rodrick drawled.

"Hermione." Harry answered.

"Well it was hardly gonna be ginger," Blaise helpfully added, almost starting up another fight there and then before to the surprise of the small group, a camera flash covered their eyes.

Rodrick blinked as he turned towards the source before finding a second year with a camera, before he could protest however, evidently a lot of the students wanted to get into the picture.

Malfoy stood beside Nott, a confused expression on his face as he watched student after student crowd Harry Potter and Rodrick Grindelwald.

"What the hell? Why is everyone so... Calm about this...?" He couldn't help the question, he wasn't sure how or why but no one looked angry. If anything every single person seemed to, in a sense like the one responsible for the whole mess.

"Its scary how good he is at this isn't it?" Nott's question fell on deaf ears, he was about to add on more before to his annoyance he was called over by Cedric Diggory, apparently they wanted him in the pictures.

Malfoy heard the boy beside him sigh in resignation before walking towards the middle, almost every student gathered there. He completely ignored it however, his eyes focused on the person responsible for antagonizing an entire house. He simply couldn't fathom why said house would so willingly forgive or worse yet, simply ignore the whole debacle. There, 15 feet in front of him, a Slytherin stood in the middle of the most diverse group of people Malfoy had ever seen. Gryffindors, Ravenclaws, Hufflepuffs and only a handful Slytherins all seemed to be laughing together From muggleborn to Purebloods... Malfoy didn't notice a single hint of enmity from any of them. Sure the bulk of the Slytherin house kept their distance but thanks to Rodricks presence a few of them were willing to join the cheerful mood going on.

It was in that moment that Malfoy realised just how dangerous Grindelwalds could be. When he turned around his eyes widened at the sight of the approaching professors. For a second he'd almost forgotten just how many rules that single game had broken.

The simple fact was, the moment Harry Potter had walked up to Rodrick and acted like the houses hadn't in fact been in a war for the last year was what had caused the spectacle. If Harry had instead show off anger regarding the whole thing, it would've turned into a much more hostile situation...

...

At the end of the day, no one really got into any trouble, simply because everyone had been involved, there were too many people to really give out any punishment for the chaotic game. As for the people responsible for locking the professors in the stands? Seventh years finishing their final term at Hogwarts were hardly going to get punished in the last couple of days. Considering none of them were willing to pin the whole thing on Rodrick meant there was no one to put the blame on. Not that the headmaster nor any of the head of houses were planning to, beside Snape who believed that Harry Potter deserved some form of punishment considering he'd endangered another students life. It was Black who had pointed out the fact that by that logic a Slytherin had endangered every students life by planning such an event. Sure the seventh years didn't pin the blame on Rodrick, it didn't meant anyone was stupid enough to think he wasn't involved.

Madam Hooch was found asleep in one of the first floor closets, completely oblivious to what had occurred in her field of work.

...

"In fourth place, Ravenclaw, 410 points." Albus Dumbledore's voice rang out over the gathered hall to the disappointed groans of the Ravenclaw table. It really hadn't been a good year for them.

The end of the year feast had started off on a high note, students had unfortunately been asked to sit at their designated tables though to Dumbledores delight, the last couple of days had shown off Gryffindors willfuly integrate themselves into the other houses. In a surprising turn of events, Harry Potter had willingly sat at the Slytherin table for a day. When, unsurprisingly, Warrington had seen that, he'd naturally raised a complaint regarding his not belonging there.

A complaint Harry had shut down by speaking parseltongue. Even Ron couldn't help the smirk at his friends antics. Hermione was slowly worrying what kind of effect Harry's godfather was having on him.

"In third place, Hufflepuff with 420 points." Albus continued on, earning smiles from the table in question. They found it oddly amusing they'd beat out Ravenclaw by 10 points.

"In second..." Dumbledore started, slight guilt in his stomach as he heard the Gryffindors take in a breath at the words. "Gryffindor, with 550 points." He remarked to resounding disappointment. Idly glancing at the Slytherin table, Dumbledore shook his head as he realised every single one of them was indifferent to his proclamation.

"In first place, Slytherin, with 600 points." He remarked, receiving cheers from the house of snakes. Then a thought occurred to him, a twinkle almost glowing in his eyes as he spared a glance at Rodrick.

"I would however like to administer some last minute points." Dumbledore had a straight face on as he spoke words that quickly sent the hall into hushed whispers, hope quickly filling the Gryffindors eyes and dread in the Slytherins.

"To Cedric Diggory for outstanding spell work and dueling technique during the eventful Quidditch game, I award you 180 points." Albus remarked, a smile on his face. The Hufflepuff accepted the praise and points with grace, his house almost glowed at the potential chance they suddenly gained.

The dread suddenly turned for worse when Slytherin realised they were going to lose to Hufflepuff instead of Gryffindor.

"To Harry Potter, for showing an unprecedented level of skill in flying, perhaps even breaking records for the fastest flight yet, I award you 50 points."

Complete silence filled the hall as the three houses quickly realised they were tied.

"To Luna Lovegood, for a remarkable showing of Hogwarts house unity, being the first witch to bravely cross barriers none would ever dare. 190 points."

Luna to the surprise of many shy'd away from all the attention, a small smile on her face as she gazed at the headmaster before turning her head towards the Slytherin table, earning a wink from Rodrick. The only Slytherin and student not remotely worried about the headmasters little game.

All four houses now tied together... A pin drop could be heard in the silence that permeated the hall. Albus felt he may have let the silence drag on a tad bit too long before he continued.

"To Rodrick Grace for showing a remarkable level of understanding and receiving one of the highest exam scores in history...1 point."

"I believe that still leaves Slytherin at the top.." Albus finished with a smile, rather surprised at the halls reaction. The students, even the winning house whispering with each other felt completely bemused. Before the Slytherin sudden cheers at realising that Rodrick hadn't in fact been lying when he told them he'd bought the cup.

"What was the point of that?" Harry deadpanned. Hermione swatted him in the arm, though her face showed off disappointment.

The hall quickly fell back into the joyful mood it'd shown the past couple of days as the headmasters end of year speech finished. Students everywhere chatting away about their plans for the summer or enjoying the wonderful food prepared by the castle... All except one student. A seventh year who couldn't take his eyes off the headmaster. Slowly he made his way up from his seat, uncaring to the sudden attention he drew.

"Percy?" Ron questioned slightly confused as he watched his brother walk towards the Slytherin table.

Percy ignored the sudden scowls from some of the students he was approaching, his eyes focused on the Greengrass ward. It quickly proved that Harry's acceptance at the table of snakes was likely due to his ability to communicate with them and friendship with the boy he was currently staring at in the eye.

"Yes?" Rodrick questioned bemused.

"Is your name really Grace?" Percy asked, not a single emotion in sight.

Rodrick furrowed his brows as he thought over his answer before settling for a nod.

"My mother was Lenora Grace. Why?" He questioned passively.

Percy eyes widened for a split second though they didn't turn from Rodrick.

"My late uncle was married to a Lenora Grace, if you are who you say who are... That makes us cousins." Percy deadpanned.

"What!?" A resounding voice yelled out quickly earning a slap from his younger sister.

Rodrick stared ahead at the wizard, he tilted his head slightly.

The hall was silent as a bat as they watched the exchange occur. Snape had disbelief writ over his face. Minerva having known the woman turned sharply to the headmaster, the closest expression to anger on her face. The professors, thanks to one Sirius Black, where the first to break the silence.

Sirius evidently found it absolutely hilarious.

Harry figured this was as good a time as any as he turned towards Hermione.

"We should go on a date sometime," he casually remarked, completely ignoring his male best friends outraged voice. Outrage at having out he had a cousin. Particularly having him as a cousin. Which was understandable.

Hermione turned to her Harry at the sudden words.

"What?" And honestly the girl wasn't even sure what she was questioning anymore.