Pre Edit Count – 2,393 Words

Song I listened to for this chapter: Aviation High by Semi Precious Weapons

Previously:

Leaning back, Jasper tells them all. “What you think has happened, I am sure that we are going to find out that it hasn’t. Harry, you are to find out from what I read who you think is good in this world actually isn’t. Hermione is to find out that purebloods have a reason for what they think. It may not be right, but they have a reason. And Draco, you will find what you have been taught is a bunch of lies and truths taken out of context. Unfortunately, there is an example of what this so-called pureblood supremacy being taken all the way in the Muggle world. Millions died.”

Both Hermione and Harry wince as they say, “The Holocaust.”

He nods. “And the Civil War and so many other times. When mankind subjugates part of their race, it makes for living people, dying. Some wars are more immediate than others but there are examples all over the place of what can happen. Muggles only have more because there are so many more of them. So let us all agree to make this a place where we are truthful and tell what we know. You never know what can happen.”

The younger people look at each other, then agree. Changing the history of the world in that one moment.

Now:

The tutorial lessons are slowly panning out. Hermione had come in to talk with Bella a couple times on items Draco told her was something he wouldn’t know.

Bella had to carefully tell the fiery witch that the world of the purebloods still harkened back to the times that children were precious and the woman who bore them even more so. There are so few births that there was never a reason to relax this belief.

It was one of the things that wizards could not understand; the need for the Muggleborns to be so independent.

Hermione just stares at her and then asks, “What did they expect us to do?”

Sighing, Bella leans back. “Be protected. Women in the Wizarding World are treasured above all but the actual children. Draco is actually normal. The difference is that Narcissa hates Lucius. So she made Draco actually worse to punish her husband. He is the way he is because he is the dagger to Lucius’s heart; she knows he will pain him more than any other.”

Looking at the woman in front of her, Hermione finally asks, “How do you know this? Draco makes his father…” her voice trails off as dots start to connect in her head.

Nodding sadly, Bella confides, “He knows nothing else because Draco is a dagger to his heart each time he complains that someone did something to him, when Draco sneers to others and so on. But the alternative is to allow his son to be killed should he shows how much he cares. Which would you choose Hermione?”

The girl in front of her frowns as she thinks.

Knowing what she is asking is often thought as unfair for a 12 year old, Bella figures if the child can ask the question, they can hear the answer. Filtered, but she will answer what her cygnets ask of her. She hated to be put off from answers, making her look them up in a book that may not explain all the nuances that she needed to know.

So she waits patiently as Hermione thinks through her question, and she finally looks to Bella. “How to get Draco to understand? Neither of them deserve it.”

Smiling gently at her Cygnet, Bella reassures, “And that is what we are trying to do. You can’t force someone to understand something he is in the middle of. He has no basis for any other idea of what should be. He has only what he has been carefully shown. So…we show him what should be. We are patient with him as he has to reevaluate his entire belief system, has to rebuild himself completely from the bottom up. Draco is not evil. He is not even naturally a bully. But he has been carefully brainwashed to believe that is what he needs to be.”

Sighing in thought, Hermione asks, “But how?”

Smiling gently at the girl in front of her, Bella says, “By using the Slytherin cunning to counteract the years of it being used against him. By showing him the loyalty of a Hufflepuff, using our Ravenclaw tendencies to learn what needs to done. And finally, showing our Gryffindor courage. There is a reason we are in this house, even Draco. He has it all and it will take it all to get through to him.”

Bella is sitting with the other professors in their Quidditch box. She has dreaded this, and in fact, was moderately surprised when her team was approved with no issues.

But then, according to Oliver, they had the best of all the teams. The Weasley twins are the best Beaters in the school. Oliver is easily the best Keeper and Harry is the best Seeker.

Draco is also an awesome backup if needed, and until then, he is a Chaser. Diggory is another Seeker, but he also admitted that both Draco and Harry are better. So he is a Chaser also. Two Seekers being Chasers gives them an advantage. Then, there is Blaise Zabini who has stepped forward for the other position.

She, while not being a notable player herself, had been one of the Marauders and had been kept up to date by them when she went to the Americas. Bella knew enough; enough to leave Oliver Wood in charge of the group.

Not that there is not people raising hell all over the school that the Sorting Hat had put so many of the star players in Swan. But it is pointed out that the Hat had nothing to do with the teams nor the talent they had for a game.

So she is sitting there watching the game against the Slytherin and she frowns as she notices all the new brooms they had; seems Malfoy had bought his son’s ex-team brooms as he had reported. Luckily, Bella had needed to outfit her team herself and did so by sending the team out to buy their own equipment. They may have different brooms, but they were each specific to the player. Bella had even sent them to the Americas to see to their equipment. While the British loved their Quidditch, Americas loved to improve things.

So she is watching her team out on the field and is proud to see them holding their own, often out flying the competition. She had a private bet with Snape on the outcome and she is looking forward to collecting her winnings.

The crowd laughs when Flint tries to knock out Oliver, mad he is blocking the goals so easily. However, Draco flew by, and catching the bat from one of the twins, hit the bludger back at Flint, hitting his broom hard enough to have it dropping from the sky.

Cedric and then Blaise manage to stop Flint from dropping hard enough to hurt with a series of catch and releases.   Her Swans knew that the snakes would have allowed Oliver to fall, but they remember their quickly becoming much loved founder, as she told them earlier, “I don’t care if they do the same, we are Swans and we will show this school what true sportsmanship is like. Understood?”

So while stopping Flint from being seriously hurt, they still allow him to fall.

Bella looks up and sees some snake trying to ram Harry as they look for the snitch. She rolls her eyes, having seen Harry in action in training. It will take much more than that to make the boy give up.

Then, she narrows her eye as she sees a bludger almost hit Harry. Her eyes scan the field and she growls. Using a spell, Bella comments, “There is a rogue bludger on the field, Madam Hooch.”

Snape sits up straighter as he looks on the field and confirms the same information. He also sees that the bludger is only attacking Potter. He stands up with the other teachers seeing the same thing, concerned.

However, Albus just comments, “The game is in play. Until the snitch is caught, we cannot interfere.”

Malfoy, who had been enjoying watching the game, lifts an eyebrow as he turns to the Headmaster, sneering, “So you wish to have a dangerous game that could kill a student instead of putting the student’s safety, as well as anyone else’s, safety first, Headmaster?”

Inside he is livid, Harry is dodging very well, but his son is out there too and could be hurt by the bludger. Luckily, he is not a seeker with Harry since he would be flying with Potter to get the snitch.

The rest of the team noticed what is going on, and they quickly scramble, leaving Oliver to guard their posts. The two Weasleys soon are riding along with Harry, just intent on protecting him as the Chasers are flying around them to provide another line of defense.

Even with their protection, Harry is flying, keeping an eye on the snitch while avoiding the bludger that has a single-minded determination to kill him.

The feats of flying are shown on the viewing banner Bella had cast in the sky that show the Seekers at all times. The crowd is treated to a unique view of the skill of the Swan team as they work to protect Harry and give him the chance to end this as soon as possible.

It was no longer about winning, just trying to get them all off the field.

What happened next shocked many of the watchers as the bludger is coming after Harry after one of the twins had hit it away, but left an opening. As the crowd gasps, the Seeker who had been trying to push Harry off his broom earlier is there in the spot, and catching a bat from his co-team member above them, hits the rogue off track.

Flint yells below, “Potter! Catch the damn Snitch. That bloody bludger is a menace! It has already almost hit a couple of us!” While he says that, the bludger comes from high, and he barely manages to avoid it.

Soon, both teams are running interference while Harry tries to catch the snitch. He ended up having to do a dive and only at the last second grabbed the snitch and pulls up from his dive, only to have to dodge the bludger.

He falls off his broom from the near miss and the bludger comes down pounding the ground around his legs as he frantically scrambles from it.

Then, as it rises to a new height, the rogue explodes as Bella is running to him. She lands on her knees, frantically checking him out. “You okay?”

Gritting his teeth, he hisses, “My arm.”

She cradles it gently, and tells him, “It’s broken.”

Then a loud voice booms, “I can heal it!”

Bella throws up a shield around Harry and her, making the spell bounce from them and back on the caster. He drops as his leg suddenly becomes rubber.

Bella snarls at him, “Do not ever think to cast a spell on my ward when I am right here. No matter if it is life or death! You are incompetent to the point that you removed your own bones!”

Dumbledore steps up to say something and Bella just turns her back on him, trusting her shield to protect them.

Malfoy is there observing and making notes in his head. But when Albus tries to cast a spell, Malfoy couldn’t take it. “Are you a complete imbecile? She has a Swan Shield up. Anything anyone casts will rebound on the caster. What right do you have in interfering with a mother’s right to her child’s protection?”

The crowd that had gathered mutters around them, but Albus calmly states, “Malfoy, she is not his mother.”

Snape grits his teeth, but before he could say anything, Sirius is there with Jasper by his side. “She is his Godmother, and without any of his birth parents around, she has become his mother. Basic law of Wizards. One you should know very well, Dumbledore.”

Jasper just walks calmly up and steps through the shield to his ward. He falls to his knees by her side, asking, “What do you need me to do?”

She growls as her eyes glow. “Hold his arm carefully. I just set the bone, he had a few shattered pieces that I had to line up. This will be painful.” She looks up, and calls out, “Sirius, Remus! Come here.”

Remus had moved up to Sirius’s side, and they both walk towards the shield, knowing she will allow them through. The shield flutters as it allows them in, and then closes around them, cutting out all sound.

Bella smooths the hair from Harry’s head and tells him softly, “I know it hurts, and this will be worse. But it will be over soon. Scream if you like, no one will hear but us, and none of us will judge you.”

Sirius and Remus soon have him held down, and Bella looks to Jasper. When he nods, she closes her eyes, and then casts the spell.

Jasper ends gritting his teeth, pulling the pain from Harry as the spell mends his arm bones. The boy still passes out, Jasper not able to pull all of the pain without jarring his arm. He grits out, “Holy hell that hurts!”

The two men look at each other in shock, but Bella is soon gathering everything as Jasper picks up the small boy in his arms. “It is all the time that it takes to repair the bone done in seconds. Yes, it hurts.”

He nods, but he stops by her side when they come out of the shield. Albus is facing down the entire school, as well as Malfoy. She looks around and shakes her head, gathering her robes around her and moving past the Headmaster, ignoring him as he calls out to her.

She has more important things to worry about than an idiot… Like who was trying to kill her son this time.

Final count: 2,406

Fairfarren~