Quidditch Matches and Giant Squids

Since Kurt and Blaine had started dating, the rules regarding where they sat in the Great Hall had become blurred. It was common to find Kurt sitting with the Warblers at the Hufflepuff table or for Blaine to be chatting with Mercedes and the other Gryffindors. Unfortunately, the Quidditch season in fourth year saw an end to this mingling.

It also became common for Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs to avoid each other in the corridors and, if they ever did come into contact with each other, to exchange insults (the favourite of the Gryffindors was, "Your team is so bad they're worse than the Chudley Cannons!").

This all lead to Blaine and Kurt having to sneak out of their respective dormitories at night and make their way to the Room of Requirement in order to have a bit of time to themselves until Wes, the Hufflepuff Seeker and Prefect, found the two of them attempting to return to their dorms one night and promptly accused Kurt of trying to sabotage Hufflepuff's Chaser. After that incident, Blaine always had someone with him and an alarm system was set up around his bed (this lead to a few awkward situations, the most embarrassing being when Blaine rolled over in his sleep and fell out of bed. The other four boys in the dormitory woke up as soon as they heard the alarm go off and, thinking he was an intruder from Gryffindor, each shot a hex at him. He was in the hospital wing for a week and Leslie Donaghue, the Hufflepuff Quidditch captain, was not impressed).

Even the teachers seemed to be getting involved. Professor Longbottom, a teacher known for hardly ever giving long pieces of homework, suddenly gave his Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw class an essay that needed to be three feet long on the importance of mandrakes in curing victims of petrification due for the next lesson in two days time, while Professor Slughorn, who had placed a rather large bet on Hufflepuff winning the Quidditch cup, amused the majority of the school by announcing to his Hufflepuff/Gryffindor class that each Gryffindor needed to give him a list of the 600 most commonly used ingredients in potion making but that the Hufflepuffs had no homework at all.

About a week before the final match took place, Leslie introduced last minute training sessions that took place every evening for two hours until Finn pointed out that if he didn't have enough time to do his homework then he would get a detention on the day of the game. Training sessions were cut down to half an hour of going over strategies for the game.

"Can't we just have one and stick with it?" Wes had asked in one session that took place after a particularly nasty Herbology lesson. "That worked with Slytherin and Ravenclaw."

"We're not playing Slytherin and Ravenclaw!" Leslie replied angrily. "We're playing Gryffindor. Gryffindors aren't morons! They can detect one tactic and they can beat it!"

"Plus," Finn had added in unhelpfully, "these guys have James and Albus Potter playing for them and Kurt told me that their parents have been giving them coaching sessions at home and they've been sending hints in via owl."

"You've been fraternizing with Gryffindors?" Leslie cried, her eyes blazing with anger. Finn backed away slowly. "And this close to the match? What were you thinking?"

"I wasn't fraternizing!" Finn tried to explain, his words coming out slightly slurred in his rush to appease his captain. "He's my step-brother! I was just delivering the post that his dad sent to me by mistake, I swear!" Leslie didn't look particularly happy but she also didn't look like she wanted to kill her Keeper any longer, so Blaine decided that was a good thing and pulled Finn back before he said something else to anger her.

"You aren't a postman," Leslie muttered but didn't press the issue further.

"What's a postman?" David, a pureblood, whispered to Blaine, who shrugged. The rest of the session was spent with a silent team listening to Leslie rant about the skills that the Gryffindor team would have. Blaine couldn't say that he was all that sad when the session ended.

The day of the game was perfect. There was no wind; there were no clouds; it was pleasantly warm but not overwhelmingly hot. The Hufflepuff waiting tent was nearly silent, the only noise being Leslie muttering about tactics under her breath. Blaine stood in the corner, his eyes closed and his mind racing as he thought about ways to keep the Quaffle away from the Gryffindor Chasers.

"Blaine," Finn said suddenly, "you're bouncing. Stop bouncing."

"I'm nervous," Blaine replied, his eyes opening quickly. He looked at Finn, who was lying on one of the benches and staring at the ceiling. "I bounce when I'm nervous, I can't help it."

"Would you two stop talking about being nervous?" David cried from the other side of the tent. "You're making me nervous."

"Good job, David," Wes added in scathingly. "Now you've made everybody nervous."

"I'm not nervous," Trent said. He received six death glares in return. "Come on, guys," he said enthusiastically, "we can do this! We can beat Gryffindor easily."

"Easy for you to say," muttered Finn. "You don't have to try and stop Albus Potter from scoring, do you?" The entire team winced in unison.

"Just make sure you find the Snitch quickly, Wes," said Leslie. "We don't want to draw this game out for too long. Hudson's good but Potter Number Two is better, and the more goals he scores the better he gets."

"Do you know how small the Snitch is?" Wes cried indignantly. The captain shot a glare in his direction and he took a step back. "Sorry, ma'am, I'll catch the Snitch quickly."

"Good." Leslie nodded. "Everybody knows the game plan, right?" The team nodded and Blaine subtly rolled his eyes. A horn sounded and the team looked at the entrance of the tent. "This is it," Leslie said seriously. "The final game. We can do this, people. We just need a bit of confidence."

"And Felix Felicis," Wes muttered as he took his place next to Finn as the team lined up. Finn promptly elbowed him in the stomach.

"Stop abusing my Seeker, Hudson, I need him," Leslie said from the front of the line without turning her head. "Are you all right, Wes?" Wes squeaked, "I'm fine," as the team moved towards the entrance onto the pitch.

"Is everyone in position and ready?" Leslie asked. The team made general noises that don't really answer Leslie's question, but she didn't press the matter. The wooden doors in front of the team slide open and Leslie mounted her broomstick in one fluid movement. Blaine followed suit and knew the rest of the team did, too.

"Ready, Blaine?" David asked from behind him.

"Just don't let the Bludgers hit me," he replied. David snorted but had no time to add anything new to the conversation as the doors completely opened and Leslie zoomed out of the waiting area. The sunlight hit Blaine's eyes and he blinked twice before flying out after her. The team did one loop around the pitch to warm up before hovering above Madam Hooch and the chest containing the Quaffle, Bludgers and Snitch. The majority of the crowd were cheering for them (only the Gryffindors and a few Ravenclaws were cheering for the other team) and Blaine can just make out two Gryffindors clad in their House colours but holding a banner saying GO BLAINE!

The Gryffindor team flew out of their end of the pitch to significantly less cheering than the Hufflepuffs, and they also lapped the pitch once before coming to a rest above Madam Hooch. Leslie and James Potter, the Gryffindor captain, shook hands while glaring at each other. To Blaine, they appeared to be trying to cut off the circulation in the other's hand.

The Snitch was released and it flew in front of the Gryffindor Seeker's face before going across to right in front of Wes. It shot high into the sky and then Blaine lost sight of it.

The Bludgers were released next and Trent's grip on his bat increased slightly.

Finally, Madam Hooch pulled out the Quaffle and Blaine instinctively leaned forward on his broomstick. Madam Hooch took one last look at each team before throwing the Quaffle into the air as high as she possibly could. There was a mad scramble for it as all six Chasers tried to grab it at once. Arianna Milligan, one of the Gryffindor Chasers, reached for it in glee, thinking she was the first one to reach it but, just as her hands were about to close on it, Nick came up from underneath the Quaffle and grabbed it from right in front of her. Arianna swore loudly and took off after him but by the time she caught up with him, Blaine had the Quaffle.

Blaine dodged the other two Gryffindor Chasers and tossed the Quaffle to Leslie, who passed it back to Blaine, who threw it at the hoop and scored as it sails through, Albus Potter just inches away from stopping it.

"Will you two do your damn job?" James screeched at the Gryffindor Beaters. The larger of the two Beaters complied with this order by hitting a Bludger straight at Blaine's head. It missed him but only by a few millimetres. Blaine could see Kurt's worried face in the crowd, even as the other Gryffindors cheered sadistically, and tried to send him a smile to reassure him that there's nothing to worry about but he wasn't sure that Kurt could see it.

"A narrow miss from Blaine Anderson as Kripke shoots straight," said Quinn Fabray into the microphone. "Even if there was no absolutely no need for the shot seeing as Blaine didn't even have the Quaffle—"

"Miss Fabray," scolded McGonagall.

"Sorry, Professor," Quinn apologised. "Anyway, Donaghue has the Quaffle, now Duval, back to Donaghue – ooh, nice interception from Potter Number One there – he's got it – good hit from Nixon but not good enough, Potter's still going. He shoots…AND A FANTASTIC SAVE FROM FINN HUDSON STOPS THE QUAFFLE!" The Gryffindor supporters groaned but the Hufflepuff supporters cheered so loudly only they could be heard. Blaine shot towards the end of the pitch and passed by Kurt.

"Good luck," he yelled and Blaine flashed a smile at him.

"Anderson, stop flirting with your boyfriend and get your head back into the game," Leslie shouted as she flew near him. "We need to get as far ahead as possible so that Gryffindor don't beat us when the Snitch is caught."

"Sorry," Blaine said and followed her down to the other end of the pitch where Finn had blocked an attempt from Arianna and had twisted himself so he hung upside down from his broomstick. Blaine could hear Quinn trying not to laugh as she observed the match.

"Thompson," Leslie ordered, "help him up. Hudson, pass me the Quaffle. Now!"

"Good" – snigger – "leadership from the" – snort – "Hufflepuff captain," Quinn choked out, her eyes becoming wetter and wetter with tears of laughter.

Finn made an attempt at throwing the Quaffle to Leslie but it failed miserably and the Quaffle plummeted towards the ground. Arianna and the other Gryffindor Chaser dove for it and Arianna managed to catch it. She threw it through the hoop and the bell sounded, signalling that ten points had been scored but Madam Hooch shook her head and blew her whistle before Quinn could even announce the new development.

"Penalty to Hufflepuff," she shouted. "There's more than one Chaser in the scoring area."

That was, apparently, too much for Arianna, who flew at the other Gryffindor Chaser and knocked him off his broom. He let out a cry as he fell and grabbed wildly at the air, searching for something to hold on to. Unfortunately for Blaine, he was hovering too close to the falling Chaser and the Gryffindor grabbed his ankle, yanking Blaine cleaning off his broom. They both tumbled towards the ground. Blaine could hear Quinn scream – actually, the whole crowd was screaming but Quinn's was the loudest because she had the microphone – and he could feel himself slowing down as he descends – probably a spell from a teacher – and every member from both teams were flying towards them but they weren't fast enough and the scream from Quinn is the last thing he heard before his head thumped against something extremely hard and everything went black.

Blaine comes to about a week later and at first everything is very white and fuzzy. He closes his eyes again because the light hurts. There's an odd pressure on his hand and he can hear muffled voices talking around him but he can't quite make out the words. Slowly, over many days, things start becoming clearer. His surroundings become less fuzzy but still stay pretty white; he's in the hospital wing. Why is he in the hospital wing? Did Leslie kill him for not scoring enough goals? It's not his fault! Albus Potter is freakishly good at being Keeper! No, he had scored a goal. Why only one? Oh yeah, he got pulled of his broom by that Gryffindor. That's embarrassing. He hoped Kurt hadn't seen that.

Wait. Kurt was at the match. He had seen that. Crap.

Another week passes since Blaine first woke up and he's lying on the bed, trying to work up the courage to open his eyes and face the light even though he really doesn't want to. There's a hand wrapped around his and he thinks it is Kurt but he isn't sure. The door to the hospital wing opens and closes and there are footsteps that stop right beside his bed. "Is he awake yet?" asks a voice that Blaine knows belongs to Nick. "Not yet," replies Kurt from the left hand side of him. The grip on his hand tightens like Trent's grip on the bat when he sees a Bludger or like David's grip on his quill in exams when he's concentrating really hard or like when Kurt's clutching at Blai—oops, not appropriate for a hospital wing, Blaine, his mind scolds.

"Madam Pomfrey said if he doesn't wake up soon she may have to transfer him to St Mungo's," Kurt continues, his voice cracking on the occasional word. Blaine knows that means he's crying. He doesn't like Kurt crying, so he guesses that he should probably say something to let Kurt know he's awake. It should be something really deep, he decides, something that really shows Kurt how much Blaine loves him and is not going to leave him.

He plans what he's going to say in his head. Fear not, Kurt, for I am awake and will not be departing from Hogwarts or your side at anytime in the foreseeable future because I love you so very much. You are the love of my life.

What comes out is, ". Yuretelvfmylf."

It's still enough to get Kurt up and hovering over him and for Nick to ask, "What did he say?"

"I have no idea," Kurt breathes. "Blaine, can you hear me?"

Blaine tries to nod but his head doesn't move so he tries saying yes. It comes out as, "Ypf," but he thinks it gets the point across.

"I'm getting Madam Pomfrey," Nick says and dashes across to her office. After quite a while and many questions of, "Can you hear me?" and instructions to squeeze someone's hand, Blaine finally gets left alone with just Kurt and he finally blinks until his eyes get a little bit of moisture in them and he can open them without searing pain.

"Blaine!" Kurt cries and hugs his boyfriend tightly. "I thought you were never going to wake up." He sounds so shaken and upset that Blaine gets upset, too, because the last thing he ever wanted to do was make Kurt cry.

"I'm awake," Blaine says, returning the hug. "I'm awake."

It's not that Blaine dislikes the Potter siblings; it's just that he never really had any cause to particularly like them. That's why it's a bit of a shock when both Potter boys corner him when he's on his way to Potions to make sure he's OK.

"Arianna's off the team," James promises him. "We don't tolerate that behaviour in Gryffindor."

"It was a good goal," Albus says just before he vanishes off to the Charms classroom.

Blaine barely makes it to his lesson on time.

But it isn't the two boys' apologies and checkups that surprise Blaine the most. No, that award would go to Lily Potter and her decision to make Blaine her new best friend after seeing the Quidditch match. She's a second year and quite annoying but Blaine likes her anyway. She attaches herself to Blaine two days after he has been released from the hospital wing and introduces herself as 'Lily Potter who you have to like because my dad is the Chosen One and now we've got that out of the way let's be friends'.

"You won the game," she informs him, jogging to keep up with Blaine's long strides – he had been reliably informed by Kurt that he walks abnormally fast for such a small person. "180-70."

"I know," Blaine replies. "Leslie told me."

"Oh," Lily says, clearly not used to somebody knowing about something before she told them. "OK."

She's there outside the Hufflepuff common room every morning before breakfast and she walks with him and the other boys to the Great Hall, chattering all the way. The boys all love her; Blaine thinks they see her as some form of loveable pet, almost like a puppy, but human sized.

Eventually, he gets used to her being around. The only time he objects to her presence is when he wants to be alone with Kurt, but he always makes up for it by buying her sweets from Honeydukes whenever he's in Hogsmeade.

They always spend Saturday mornings together, because Kurt refuses to get up before ten and then he has to get ready which takes about an hour and Mercedes always wants to have an hour of girl talk, so without Lily Blaine's Saturdays would be very boring.

"I personally don't get what all the fuss is about," Lily tells him one Saturday as she walks with him around the lake. "It's just a game, right?" Blaine shakes his head but he doesn't try to argue with the Potter girl. It's in her genes to be stubborn. "My family hate it when I say that," she continues. "They're all Quidditch nuts – well, except for my grandma, Aunt Hermione, Auntie Fleur and Victoire. Are your family really into it, too? Is that why you think it's so important to win the game?"

"No, my family don't really care about it," Blaine shrugs. "I wanted to win the game because Hufflepuff doesn't win much. Hufflepuff really doesn't get much attention except for being the loser House."

"I don't think you're losers," Lily says honestly. "And neither does my dad. He says that one of the greatest guys he ever met was in Hufflepuff. That Hufflepuff helped him with a Triwizard clue, apparently. And he says that the Hufflepuffs were some of the first to volunteer for fighting in the Second War. He says Hufflepuffs are important." She finishes her little speech with something that sounds to Blaine like a quote.

"Really?" Blaine has to ask because he doesn't really believe it. Harry Potter thought that his House was important? It's slightly morale boosting.

"Oh yeah," Lily replies. "He loves you Puffs." Blaine resists the urge to tell her that only Hufflepuffs can use the term Puffs. "Ooh, look, there's Dylan!" Lily suddenly squeals, completely changing the subject in a typical Lily way. "DYLAN!" She jumps up and down and waves her arms frantically at the giant squid. The squid in question goes underwater for a few seconds before surfacing quite near to the shore where Lily and Blaine stand.

"I didn't know he ever came this close to shore," Blaine breathes, taking in the wonder before him. "He's really big."

Lily looks at him weirdly. "Of course he is," she says. "He's a giant squid. It's in the name. Stay right here. Dylan, hang on." She races inside the castle and Blaine expects the squid to vanish, but he remains where he floats, patiently waiting for the small girl to return. When she does, she's carrying a carrot and a piece of cod from the kitchens. "Here you go, boy," she coos and throws the cod and carrot out towards Dylan. Dylan extends one giant tentacle and wraps it around both pieces of food before they can sink and then retreats back into deeper waters.

"Is every Gryffindor friends with the squid?" he asks Lily, who nods enthusiastically and tells him that the squid's name is Dylan like he didn't all ready know.

"Dylan loves carrots," Lily informs Blaine. He just nods. Dylan the squid loves carrots and Lily is best friends with Dylan. Lily is best friends with a carrot loving giant squid who lives in a lake that is located in a school for witches and wizards with food that is provided by house elves, ghosts that wander around the school, a really annoying poltergeist by the name of Peeves, a headmistress who can turn into a cat at will, and portraits that move.

Somehow Blaine feels he should have seen this coming.