XXXIV

The six sat in the infirmary in silence. Five sat ashamed; four bewildered; three sat in awe; two began to cry and one was greatly upset.

"Grega, I didn't have a choice!" Cho said desperately.

"It doesn't matter! You could have done something else!" Grega's face was red with anger. "Blood magic is very much strictly forbidden!" she jumped down from the dresser she was sat on and began to pace.

"Neither of them were letting up! One of them was definitely going to kill the other!"

"Couldn't you have- I don't know, imperiod Veja or cruciod her?" Grega threw her hands in the air.

"Grega, that's even worse." Blaise shook his head. "If that was what Cho could do without getting into the fight, then it's good enough."

"Blaise is right," Draco smirked. "Cho would've never stood a chance against Veja. Veja went full on dementor. There was no way Cho would've- agh!"

Hether turned her head sharply to Draco. His upper body was stiffened, as if he had been strapped tightly in a straitjacket. His eyes widened in fear and he looked all about his body, trying to move in a bleak effort.

"What were you saying, Draco?" it was Cho who smirked this time. Her fingers were stretched out towards Draco in a tight stance, and the more she tightened them, the more he groaned. Impressed sounds went round the room and Blaise snapped his fingers in amusement. "Perhaps you want to say that a bit louder? I didn't hear you the first time."

"Alright, alright, I take it back." Draco wheezed and the hold on his body was dropped. He shook his arms. It was as if his blood had frozen in place, covering his muscles in a tight grip and preventing them from moving. "That was creepy. Please don't do that to me ever again. Hang on- shouldn't the ring have blocked that, Hether?"

All heads turned to Hether who raised her eyebrows, absentminded. "Huhn?"

"The shield, remember?" Draco waved his hand in front of her face. "It should have stopped Cho's magic."

"Mmhmm…" Hether said, still aloof. She blinked and shook her head. "Right. No, sorry, it can't."

"What shield?" Grega asked.

"It's, um, a little enchantment I put on Draco. Very primary stuff." Hether waved the question away. "Basic magic. It forms a shield around you that activates when it thinks you're in or about to be in harm. It can also protect other people if you hold them, why?" she looked up at Grega.

"Okay…" Grega nodded slowly. "I bloody well want one of those."

"If she's having one, then I want one as well." Cho piped in. "Roommate privileges."

"That's not a card you can play," Hether scoffed.

"Why don't we all get one?" Blaise suggested.

"It's not that easy." Hether stalled, raising groans from everyone.

"You said it was basic magic." Veja spoke up. "Or are you chicken?"

"No," Hether grimaced. "Pfft. Me, chicken?"

"Oh, you're definitely chicken." Draco snorted. "But seriously. If You-Know-Who-"

"What are you, five?" Hether cut in.

"Don't interrupt me when I'm speaking," Draco rolled his eyes.

"Well said, daddy Draco," Grega wiggled her eyebrows much to Draco's disgust.

"You're vile." He scowled. "But if he wants me, you're all in his way. I think it would be wiser if everyone here was protected, Hether."

Hether pursed her lips and stared at Draco. He held her gaze and stared back at her, refusing to yield. Grega's eyes flitted between the two of them excitedly, watching the tension grow, until eventually, Hether broke eye contact and gave in.

"Ding-ding-ding!" Grega cheered, imitating a bell. "We have a winner!"

"Might as well let the whole school know we're in here during lessons." Veja grumbled.

"Okay. This is how it works." Hether crossed her legs. "Because it's a protection spell, it shouldn't be identifiable by the enemy. It should be something that's already a part of you. For Draco and I, it's our crest rings. We wear them all the time."

Blaise took off his ring, as did Veja, and both laid them before Hether. Grega checked her person to see if there was something she always wore, regardless of circumstance; it was her necklace. She took it off and dropped it in the pile. Cho took off her beaded bracelet and in it went.

"Okay." Hether took in a deep breath. "Then you say the words 'oofla schloop enchantus dire"."

Everyone except Draco and Veja nodded and began to repeat the chant.

"Golly, you're all quite the gullible sort." Veja shook her head. "Do you really think she would recite a protection spell?"

Draco burst out laughing and slapped his thigh. "Good one, Hether."

"Hey, that's not fair." Grega protested.

"Well, I had you there, didn't I?" Hether smiled. "This time for real."

She picked up the pieces of jewelry and dropped them in her palm. As they watched the pieces of jewelry began to hover, just above her palm, and her eyes began to glow. For Draco, it was as if the first day they had met in the chamber was unfolding before his eyes. He looked at her, and noticed that her eyes were glowing a bright, warm gold. The rest were captivated by the glow. He was, too; he always was, no matter how many times he had seen it, he always was.

She didn't say anything; she didn't even seem to be casting a spell. It was as if she was channeling bits of herself; bits of her magic into the jewelry. The dull tones of silver and gold of the jewelry began to brighten, until she was holding a ball of light in her hand. Just as soon as Veja thought she would be blinded, the glow disappeared, leaving a pair of brown eyes staring at hovering jewelry. Hether removed her palm and the pieces clattered softly unto the bed.

"DON'T touch it." Draco suddenly said, breaking the spell of awe. "Accio it unto your finger, otherwise it will backfire and toss you out of the window."

"What was that?" Grega blinked at him, trying to snap out of her reverie.

"Accio the ring unto your finger. Don't pick it up." He repeated.

Cho swallowed and nodded, and held out her wand. "Accio bracelet." She said and the bracelet flew unto her hand, latching itself in place. To her surprise, it seemed to mold itself unto her hand, and she felt a small surge of power flow through her body. She looked up at the others. "I feel like this is very dodgy magic."

"It is." Hether grimaced. "People would kill for that. It can only be taken off by you alone, dead or alive. And it protects you from any type of magic. It won't protect you from one another, in case you lot start fighting, because it's forged by the same caster."

Veja lifted her ring to the light, and twirled her hand about. "Corr."

"Very corr." Grega mumbled in agreement. She raised her head and looked around the small group. "So, I'm guessing everyone here has some form of advanced magic? Recap?"

"From what I've heard," Blaise said, kneading his brow with his hands. "Cho can control people through their blood, Malfoy is some sort of water dragon, Hether is a celestial guardian, and Veja does shadow magic."

"It's not shadow magic, moron." Veja sighed. "I see the future and can draw power from emotions. It's all very black-y so it seems like dark magic but it's not."

"Right," Grega nodded in disbelief. "So that would make Blaise and I the sidekicks. Seeing as we're the only ones without some special thing."

"I don't think there are any sidekicks." Draco frowned.

"Maybe you just haven't found it yet." Hether shrugged. "I can only see so far."

"Fat load of crap, that is."

Cho pursed her lips and looked at Veja. She seemed to have come out of her gloomy shell, even if it was just a bit, and looked more alive. "Veja," She said.

Everyone fell silent and looked at her. She swallowed and turned red, and pinched herself internally for it. She opened her mouth to continue, but nothing came out. A warm hand placed itself over hers, and Cho lifted her eyes to see Blaise giving her a silent look of encouragement. It was a strange look that she had never seen on the usually horrid boy's face, and it wiped away everything she thought she knew about him. She gave a small smile and continued.

"I know what I'll say will never make up for everything you've had to go through," She looked Veja square in the eye. "but we'd all like to apologise. We were-" her voice broke and an unforeseen tear fell from her eye. She gasped slightly and wiped it away.

"We were horrid to you for no reason." Grega spoke up. "We don't have any excuse for the way we've treated you– for the way I've treated you… and we're sorry."

Veja blinked in mild surprise, and cleared her throat. "It's okay. It's not just magic folk, but muggles too. When people see someone with vitiligo, the first thing they think is, oh, they've got a disease. I'm used to it, I guess."

"It's not okay." Hether said quietly. Grega perked up in surprise. Hether often stayed out of things and never picked sides, so seeing her pick a side was new. "People should know the truth rather than believing some rabid myth. Besides, you are very beautiful."

Veja's cheeks darkened red where it was pink, and she smiled. "Thank you. It's not often I ever get people that accept that I'm normal like them. There was my dad, but after he died, things got worse with mum."

"What happened to your father?" Cho said softly.

"He was just like me, but you couldn't tell because he had such light skin. Mum always teased that it was because his blood was too pure. He was special, and strong." Veja's eyes fell sadly. "They asked him to defend the ministry during the first war. Mum begged him not to go, but he went, and he was killed. So she killed them. It was scary, seeing her like that. 'Said she was going to kill them all, but she couldn't live without him and shrank into herself."

"What was his name?" Grega asked.

"That's enough, Grega." Blaise cut her off.

"It's okay. His name was Shizukana Kawa." Veja's eyes glazed over as if she was looking at something only her could see. "That's Japanese for-"

"-Quiet River." Cho frowned.

The room fell silent as they turned to face Cho. Her eyes were cast towards the ground, frowning, as if there was something she wanted to say but didn't know if she should. Veja opened her mouth to speak but was cut short by a bell ringing in the distance. She pursed her lips and shook her head. "Off you all go, then. 'Don't want to make you late."