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"I didn't tell them anything about your magic," Astoria says softly. "Father said not to." I sag in relief at that, thanking my lucky stars for Mr. Greengrass's foresight.
"My parents send their regards, by the way," Daphne continues. "They stayed in Hogsmeade an extra two days hoping to speak with you again, but they had to leave."
Tracey speaks up for the first time. "It's a good thing you were gone by then, anyway, William. Otherwise a picture of you and Daphne would have it into the—"
"Shh!" Hermione says too late. Tracey turns red and the others look decidedly uncomfortable.
"What?" I ask finally, after nobody elaborates.
"You had quite a spread in Teen Witch Weekly," Harry – clearly the bravest of the five – says slowly, "carrying Astoria on your shoulders, kissing her mother's hand, chatting with her father, hugging Hermione, doing something to her hair, and then rescuing Fleur."
I blink. Everybody else seems to hold their breath. "Wow," I say finally. "Wow, now I wish I would have gotten a picture with you, Daph. And Luna, too."
"William!" Three hands smack me lightly at the same time.
Harry laughs. "You really ought to stop doing that if you want to get out of here by Saturday, Will."
"Ah, but the love-taps of these angels are my ambrosia," I say, reaching up to run my hands through Astoria's raven-black hair.
"I thought hugs and kisses were?" Hermione asks with a raised eyebrow.
"My nectar," I say with a smile, lifting my head with some effort to plant a kiss atop Astoria's head.
"At this rate you'll be on your feet in no time," Daphne says, slapping me on the arm again. "Quit kissing my sister."
"Jealous, Daph?" Astoria asks with a smirk.
Hermione gasps and Daphne's mouth drops open, then she mock glares and jabs her knuckles into Astoria's sides, causing her little sister to stifle a scream and jerk while laying on top of me, laughing.
I yelp when I take a knee to the inner thigh. "Ow! Watch your knees! Watch your knees! That's not a love-tap!"
Tracey giggles at their antics. "It's a good thing Blaise isn't here, he would be scowling so hard his face would get stuck like that."
Daphne thankfully calls off the assault, and I let out a deep breath in relief. "Where is he, anyway?"
"Oh, Madam Pomfrey said you may only have five visitors at a time," Hermione says.
"We had to fight Ron, Neville, and Luna to come in first; Blaise is waiting outside with them," Astoria says, now sitting up on the side of the bed opposite Daphne.
Tracey snorts. "You should have seen the battle of puppy-dog eyes between Astoria and Luna. The only reason we won is because Ron and Neville were scared away by it. Even Blaise looked like he would have given them anything they wanted."
I cough out laughter at the thought of it. "I can imagine. I wish Colin could have gotten a picture of that, too."
Daphne's smile fades. "Speaking of pictures, what did you do, William? What was that light in the picture of you?"
I glance around at the others. "I don't know. I could feel myself nearing magical exhaustion, and I was so frustrated because I wasn't making progress. And then it was like...something snapped. It hurt...it hurt like hell, I remember that. I remember the glow, but my vision failed shortly after that..."
After a few moments I realize I had trailed off, thinking about the differences between how it felt and how it looked in the picture. I look up to find troubled faces on Harry, Hermione, and Daphne, while Tracey and Astoria looked awed.
"Why did you do that...for her?" Astoria asks. "I mean, I could understand Hermione or Daphne, but why her?" Daphne shoots a glare at her sister while Hermione blushes, but Astoria ignores them and drops her gaze. "You could have died."
I grimace because I can't answer that truthfully. Redirection time. "I would have done it for you, too, Stori. You, too, Tracey, and Harry, and all the people waiting outside." I smile what I hope is a friendly smile.
"Well, maybe not Mr. Zabini. But don't you remember? I'm a Gryffindor, we do stupid things like that all the time."
Tracey snorts, but Daphne isn't fooled. "You're dodging the question."
"He does that when he has something to hide," Hermione adds.
I shrug. "I think maybe it's like I told the Delacours. Harry has this 'saving people' thing, and he's rubbed off on me."
"Maybe it isn't," Daphne says immediately, getting a nod from Hermione.
"Remind me to never let the two of you corner me, ever," I say with a smile. They do not find this amusing. I sigh.
"Fine, the truth is, I would have felt responsible if she had...not made it." I look directly into Daphne's eyes while I say that.
"That's preposterous!" Hermione exclaims.
"But true," Daphne says, letting out a breath and shaking her head. "Perhaps I've given you too much credit, William. That is really stupid."
I give her a small smile. "Perhaps, but then, if I had the power to save her and didn't do it, how would I feel then?" Then I look at Hermione, and I'm wondering if I haven't fooled her. My eyes plead with her to drop it, and thankfully she does.
"But you could have died, damn you!" My other four visitors turn to stare open-mouthed at Daphne's outburst.
"I'm sorry, Daph," I say quietly. "I've hit magical exhaustion twice before, so I thought I knew my absolute limit...I wasn't expecting the light show."
"You've done that before?" Astoria asks with wide eyes.
"Um, just the magical exhaustion part, not the other thing," I say uncomfortably.
"What were you doing that you got to that point?" Daphne asks tightly.
"Training," I say with a small smile as I glance toward Hermione.
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Hey guys if u like the fanfic and want to read ahead by 27+ chapters or just want to support take a visit on my patreon.
(P).(A).(T).(R).(E).(O).(N)
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