With thanks to Jordi, Aeoros, Rune and Mikey for being the coolest friends on the net! Thanks for being there guys!
Especially dedicated to Justin, Jeremy and Louis. The three of you have inspired more new parts of this story. Quidditch and lightsabers forever, brothers! :D
Justin: 12 42/33/1-2/11 2-1/33/1-1
ALSO NOTE: I will be drafted into the army on September 17th, 2002. Hopefully I'll be able to get the story out one chapter per week, but don't be surprised if it stops for a month or two. Just to let you readers know.
Disclaimer: This story is fictional, and says nothing about the orientations of any member of the boyband N Sync, or any other character, celebrity or otherwise. If you are under 18 or 21, or live in a country where it's illegal to read something like this, leave, though I seriously doubt you will. If you don't like the idea of two guys in a relationship with each other, or having sex with each other, what are you doing here in the first place?
Though maybe none of the characters will be appearing, ideas taken from these places will show up:
Star Wars, Copyright LucasFilms, Created by George Lucas Buffy, Copyright 20th Century Fox, Created by Joss Whedon X-Men, Copyright Marvel Comics, Created by Stan Lee Charmed, Copyright WB, Created by Aaron Spelling Harry Potter, Copyright JK Rowling (due to James' addition of Harry Potter to his Dark Knight series, I find myself adding it in too, but the character may never appear in the story. However, loving Quidditch as much as I do... :D )
Irish Translator speech courtesy of http://www.whoohoo.co.uk
Chapter 19 - The First Match
I woke with a start when I felt water splashing on my face. I groaned and instinctively focused on contacting the water elementals, asking if they could move the rain elsewhere for the time being. The result was only a confused reply, followed by another splash of water. I finally opened my eyes and saw a smiling face looking down on me, but the bright noon sunlight shone in my eyes and prevented me from making out who it was.
"Scott?" I asked, shielding my eyes from the glare. The cool wind whipped about my body, and I realised I was still naked, but the warm sun made the chill bearable. I could hear someone snoring beside me, and I reached out for him as my vision began to clear.
"No, it's Ryan," my brother replied. "Scott's still sleeping beside you. I'd suggest you put on some clothes before Rachel and Malita come down this way."
The advice was a little too late, and I could hear Rachel and Malita chatting nearby. I shook Scott awake, and he mumbled something before he slumped back into sleep. I shook my head and leaned over and kissed him, startling him awake. His eyes shot open and kissed me back for a moment before I pulled away.
"Good morning, cutie," he smiled. "That's one hell of a way to wake up." Then his smile disappeared as he heard Ryan making puking noises behind me, and Malita's horrified gasp.
"This can't be good," he said, looking shocked. He sat up and shivered, then quickly realised he was just as naked as I was. "Ack!" he yelped, reaching for his clothes. He grabbed mine over and tossed them to me, and we quickly put our clothes on. Within seconds, we were ready, and turned to face our siblings.
"Before we go into business, can I ask something?" Rachel said. Scott and I exchanged glances, shrugged, then nodded. Rachel smirked a little. "Which of you was bottom?"
Scott flushed a deep crimson, and Rachel laughed. Malita frowned and handed a US fifty-dollar bill to my sister, who kissed it in delight and pocketed it.
"So what's this all about?" I asked, trying to draw attention away from Scott.
Ryan's face immediately turned stern, followed by Malita and Rachel. All their arms were crossed at their chest, and they looked at us crossly.
"We were worried when neither of you came home after your date," Ryan began.
"We got worried that you might have had an accident," Rachel continued.
"We freaked out when neither of you answered your mobile phones," Malita finished.
"And how did you find us?" Scott asked.
"Scryed," Ryan said.
"Fire-gazed," Rachel added.
"Checked the anti-theft sattelite," Malita said. Rachel and Ryan turned to look at her, and she shrugged. "What? I don't own a crystal ball, only a computer."
"But you should have known that we would be back later today," I said. "You didn't have to go looking for us, especially if you knew we were fine."
"Did you forget something?" Ryan asked.
"Something important?" Rachel emphasised.
"Something very important?" Malita finished. I wondered how long they practiced these lines. I turned to Scott, and he met me with a blank look on his face. I shrugged and mouthed, "How should I know?" Scott stuck out his lower lip, a confused look on his face. The two of us turned back to our siblings who were still standing there with their arms crossed. The three of them looked at each other, then turned back to face us. "OUR FIRST QUIDDITCH MATCH IS IN THREE HOURS TIME!!!"
"Ack!" I jumped to my feet, then helped Scott up. "Ack, ack ack!"
"Oh no, oh no, oh no," Scott chanted. "We've got to get back to the car. Quick!"
"Casey drove the car back," Ryan said.
"It's in our house garage for now," Rachel added.
"We're going back by portkey," Malita finished, holding up a small ring. "It leaves in forty-five minutes, so I suggest the two of you take a shower in the river. We've got towels, some natural soap and your Quidditch robes."
I came out of the river, cool and refreshed. Ryan had been thoughtful enough to bring over a few pairs of underwear (I think he was trying to get rid of some of them. Like I said before, who needs over sixty pairs of underwear) for Scott and I to change to. Rachel and Malita turned away as Scott and I grabbed towels from Ryan and began changing. After a light breakfast (or rather lunch), the five of us sat and chatted with each other until Malita checked her watch and announced that it was nearly time to go.
"So what exactly do we have to do?" I asked, staring at the ring suspiciously. Malita slipped the ring around her finger, saying, "You wear it. I'll go first, and send it back with magic. When it reappears, put it on and it'll bring you to the pitch where our matches will be held."
She smiled as she suddenly disappeared from sight. Rachel, Ryan and I gasped and took a step backwards from the spot Malita had once stood.
"Nuh uh," Rachel said, shaking her head. "No way."
"Not even if Hell was freezing," Ryan vowed. Scott furrowed his brow, and looked my way. I shook my head slowly. "Don't look at me, I'm not keen on going that way either."
The ring appeared on the grass in front of us, and Scott bent to pick it up. "But how are you going to get back if you don't use this?"
My siblings and I exchanged looks of uncertainty. Scott watched us patiently, then Ryan stepped forward, taking the ring cautiously from Scott's grasp. Slowly, uncertainly, he put the ring around his finger. Then in an instant, he was gone. I shuddered and Rachel cringed. The thin silver band appeared once again in the grass, and this time Rachel took it up.
"Now or never," she whispered as she placed the ring slowly above her fingers, then disappeared from sight. I knew cognitively that she was fine, and so was Ryan, otherwise the ring wouldn't have returned, but somehow knowing that did nothing to quell the fears I had about it. The ring appeared and Scott picked it up and handed it to me. I took it slowly, but didn't put it on.
"Are you alright?" Scott asked, putting his arm around my shoulders. I shook my head slightly, and he smiled one of his bright grins and gave me a peck on the cheeks.
"Go ahead," he said gently. "Trust me. You'll be fine."
I finally slipped the ring around my finger. There was a sharp yank, and I felt like I was being tugged out of existence. There was a strange sensation of being pulled, shoved and dragged through a darkness that was so tangible I could feel it. It was horrifying, and it seemed to last forever. I could heard ghostly voices and shrieks of terror, then suddenly I was screaming. The darkness muffled the scream, but I continued to scream. Suddenly, there was light, a bright flow of light and air, and soon my vision of the darkness began to clear. Malita stood in front of me, her fingers plugged into her ears.
"After the first one, I learnt quickly," she said, taking her fingers out of her ears. I saw Ryan sitting on the floor, rocking back and forth slowly like he used to when he was a child and was scared of the "monsters" under his bed. Racehl had tears streaming down her face. I was trembling and shaking, and I felt like I was beginning to hyperventilate. Malita uttered some phrase and the ring disappeared from sight. Scott emerged soon after, took one look at me, and quickly wrapped his arms around me. I slowly calmed down, feeling safe in Scott's warm embrace and taking comfort from his soothing whispers.
"What's wrong?" Malita asked, unsure of why we were so scared. I had no answer for her, but Scott held me for a while, calming me. We seperated, and I quickly went to my brother and sister and offered them the same comfort Scott had shared with me.
"It all makes sense now," Scott said finally after I had calmed my siblings down. "I just remembered some of what I learnt in school. The three of you are a druidic family, like Cliodna."
"Cliodna," Malita said. "She's the druidess, right? She wrote about the differences between Wizards, Druids and Hedges, and about their magics."
"Yeah," Scott said. "The druids were sometimes called Fairy Witches because of their connection with nature and the cycles of the earth, and with the world of Faerie. They are only attuned with the natural world and the Faerie plane, both of which are strongly related to the natural cycles of the earth and natural magic. That's why they ask flowers and herbs for permission before plucking them. The portkey transports people from one place to another by bringing them through a portal plane, and a Druid travelling through an arcane portal would go through what they just went through because Druids are so connected to the earth and its cycles that arcane magic scares and hurts them. Arcane magic severes their connection to the earth, and being in tune with the earth more so than any others, it causes terror and even physical pain in certain cases."
"Ahh, okay," Malita mused. "So basically they are scared because their connection with the earth is severed and that can hurt them."
"Yeah," Scott said smugly. Malita rolled her eyes. "You didn't have to go into so much detail. Ravenclaws."
I listened with a smile as Scott and Malita got into a friendly sibling argument about their school houses as I looked around the area. We were inside the area just under the stands where a team is supposed to wait before the match begins. The stone doors would magically open and we'd fly out on our broomsticks to start the game.
"What's the game roster like?" I asked, immediately halting Scott and Malita's argument which had started to intensify.
"You guys are up against Slytherin in about twenty minutes," Malita said, checking her watch. "After your match, there's an hour break, then it's our match against Ravenclaw. The winners of today's match fight Gryffindor and Hufflepuff tomorrow."
"Just be careful with Slytherin," Scott advised. "They're cheaters, and their fouls have caused major injuries before."
We turned our attention to my cousins rushing through, dressed in their green and sky-blue Quidditch robes, carrying their brooms. Casey tossed my broom over to me, and I caught it easily and mounted it, adjusting my robes a little as I sat and hovered for a while above the ground. Scott hugged me and gave me a pat on the back. "Good luck out there."
An elderly wizard with robes of a strange purple colour walked seemingly out of nowhere and bowed. Scott and Malita both smiled. "Hello Professor Dumbledore."
"Ahh, Mister and Miss Andrews," Professor Dumbledore said. "Giving your friends a few tips on how to beat your schoolmates?"
Scott blushed. "Just wishing them luck."
Dumbledore winked at him. He held out his hand to Seamus, who shook it amiable, then he tipped his pointed hat towards all of us and wished us luck. As he walked out again to sit in the teachers' stands, I absently wondered if he ever tripped over his long beard.
"That would be our principal," Scott pointed out. "They say he's the only wizard You-know-who is scared of."
"Who?" my entire family, cousins and all, asked in unison. Malita raised her eyebrow, scrunching her forehead. "Voldemort."
"Who's that?" I asked, genuinely confused. Scott and Malita looked at each other and shrugged.
"I'll explain later," Scott said finally.
"Maybe you can show me around your school too," I said. Trumpets sounded, announcing the match was going to begin soon, and soon the crowd began cheering from outside.
"This isn't my school," Scott said. "This is Tiernan School of Magic, County Roscommon, Ireland. Why do you think we're staying in Sligo with our uncle instead of in England?"
"Oh," I said as the magical doors began to open. "I just assumed that this was Hogwarts since your principal is here."
"Our whole school is here to cheer our teams on," Scott said, patting my back one last time. Seamus mounted his broom, and as captain, he would fly out first. Scott held my hand and kissed it. "May the luck of the Irish be with you, then. Oh, and the whole of Tiernan is rooting for your team."
Seamus flew out on his broom at the exact moment a fanfare blasted from magical instruments that played on their own. Shane, Rachel and I followed suit, with Ryan and Malcolm right behind us.
"And here's the team captain of the Flaming Filans, Seamus Filan," the commentator announced to the crowd. "Chasers Shane Filan, Rachel Filan and Dylan Filan are next, followed by beater Ryan Filan and keeper Malcolm Filan."
Casey shot out behind us suddenly at a spectacular speed as "Seeker Casey Filan" was announced. I flew high above the crowd, remembering the formations that Seamus had drummed into us. It was customary to have a flying formation before taking positions on the pitch, and we pulled it off perfectly.
The conditions were perfect for a match, the sun was bright, but not glaring, and there was a slight breeze, but nothing strong enough to make our brooms unsteady. I flew around the pitch taking notice of the crowd and seeing banners like "Go Hogwarts" and "Tiernan supports Flaming Filans" all over the pitch. I barely took notice of the announcer and only caught the names of the captain and seeker of the Slytherin team, Marcus Flint and Terence Higgs.
"Conditions for the pitch are absolutely perfect," the magically enhanced voice said. "But today looks set to be a confusing game as both the Slytherins and the Filans are dressed in green."
I heard hundreds of people below shouting "Go, go Ireland! Flaming Filans win for Ireland!" as I took my position on the pitch between Rachel and Shane, Casey floating a few feet above me. Seamus was in front of me, shaking hands with Marcus Flint, a mean-looking boy with a horrid sneer on his face. The referee, dressed in the typical black and white robes, blew his whistle, then mounted his broom. At the signal, Malcolm left Shane's side and flew towards the goal hoops at our end of the field. Seamus flew to where Malcolm once hovered over, the beater's spot. A girl with a long ponytail flew out from the centre of the Slytherin semi-circle and Marcus took her place, signifying himself as a chaser. The referee kicked the chest of balls and up flew the bludgers and snitch. I tried to follow the snitch for fun, but lost sight of it within a second, but glancing up, I saw Casey's eyes dart around, following the snitch's every movement. The referee bent down and picked up the bright red quaffle. It was one of the new models, perfectly round and seamless about the size of a soccer ball, just like the one we used in practice. Though there was not much difference between the old and new models, I hoped that the slight differences would cause Slytherin to be a little off-form, since they used the old seamed quaffle in Hogwarts.
The referee tossed the quaffle as high into the air as he could, but didn't take off yet. If he had, he would have been smashed when he blew his whistle, and all the chasers shot towards the quaffle to get control of it. I reached out and managed to grab the quaffle, quickly flying over Marcus' head as I shot towards the Slytherin goal. One of the chasers tried to snatch the quaffle from my grasp, but I spun to dodge her. Finding myself suddenly the target of an oncoming bludger, I tossed the quaffle to Shane, who was flying alongside me, and quickly dropped my altitude, drawing the bludger away from Shane as Ryan came zooming down, beater's club in hand ready to smash the bludger. Ryan took aim with his club, and the moment Shane entered the scoring area, Ryan bashed the bludger so hard that it flew straight towards the Slytherin keeper. She easily dodged the bludger, but her swerve left the middle hoop unguarded, and Shane flung the quaffle straight through the hoop. A bell sounded and the crowd below cheered loudly enough to drown out the commentators acknowledgement of the goal. The scoreboard opposite the commentator's seat now read Slytherin - 0, Flaming Filans - 10. I high-fived Ryan, as he flew off to protect Casey from a bludger shooting his way.
It was Slytherin's possesion now, and the keeper flung the quaffle straight towards one of her female teammates. The girl caught it easily and passed it to Marcus as Rachel flew to intercept the quaffle. Marcus flew off towards our goal, only to get his arm bashed by a bludger sent his way by Seamus. He lost his grip on the quaffle and dropped it. Rachel quickly snatched the floating quaffle and attempted to speed towards the goal. The crowd roared in rage, and I began shouting angrily. Marcus had grabbed Rachel's broom tail, and was pulling on it as hard as he could. The referee blew his whistle, but Marcus didn't let go. Then one of the Slytherin beaters swung his club with both his hands, and an audible crack was heard as a bludger was hit extra hard towards Rachel, striking her right on her chest. Marcus released his grip on Rachel's broom as my stunned sister began falling towards the ground.
"RACHEL!" I screamed as I shot towards her falling body. The referee was blowing his whistle like a madman, and the crowd was screaming in rage. I couldn't reach Rachel in time, but Shane caught her on her way down, and I managed to grab both her broom and the quaffle.
"It looks like that foul has awarded penalties to the Flaming Filans," the commentator announced. The referee blew his whistle three time.
"Three penalties awarded to the Flaming Filans for blagging, ignoring of whistle and beater misconduct," the commentator said. "But the Filans may yet be playing at a disadvantage."
The rules of Quidditch were such that if a player was injured during the game, he or she would not be replaced. Seamus signalled a time-out to the referee who nodded his head once. All the players touched-down on the grass. Malcolm shot us a concerned glance, but like the Slytherin keeper, he remained near the hoops.
"Rachel, are you alright?" I asked, running to her as Shane laid her on the ground slowly.
"You hedges should stay out of the games," I heard Marcus shout from across the field, his face twisted in a sneer. "You're way out of our league, and you're just as bad as the mudbloods."
The whole "mudblood" thing made no sense to me, but I guessed it was a rather nasty word. I gave him the finger and knelt in front of Rachel. Medics were rushing from the sides of the pitch towards us, their wands waving in the air. Seamus held up his hand to hold them back.
"There are five of us," he said. "Come on, pentagram arms."
The five of us stood at equal distances around Rachel and formed a pentagram with our arms. Shane began by intoning a low note, then I added my voice and harmonised with his note. Ryan added his voice to make a chord, then Seamus and Casey added higher pitches of Shane's and my notes. We kept intoning for a while, making sure we didn't take breaths at the same time to keep the sound as constant as possible. I felt the energy building up and focus onto Rachel, then at the right moment, all of us stopped humming at the same moment. The energy flowed into Rachel, and she coughed, then stood up as we broke our pentagram.
"Thanks," she said as she picked up her broom. The wizard medics scratched their heads with puzzlement, then made their way back to the sidelines. Rachel turned to Marcus Flint, shouted an obscenity at him, then mounted her broom and we flew back to the skies. The Slytherins were taken aback as she got up, and they looked at each other with worry. To add insult to their injury, Rachel took the shots for the penalties and scored all three easily, bringing the score 40-0. Then the game started again with the quaffle in Slytherin's possession. Marcus held the quaffle as he zoomed towards our hoops while I chased after him, trying to grab the quaffle from his grasp. Suddenly, he zoomed upwards and slightly to the side. I heard him shouting something and before I knew it, he and the other male chaser were on my sides, closing in on me. That wasn't a foul unless they actually made contact, but I decided that I didn't care if they had a foul, I just wanted to pay them back for what they did to Rachel. Marcus shouted something, and he and his teammate closed in on me as quickly as they could with the intent of bashing me in collision. They swung in, and I quickly activated my powers. Both of them flew through me, making hard and painful contact with each other, and I flew downwards quickly to make it look like I dodged them. Marcus had dropped the quaffle on impact, and I grabbed it, turned around and zoomed towards the Slytherin hoops. The Slytherin keeper rushed to protect her hoops as I shot towards them. Without warning, I turned upwards, and quickly the keeper changed her stance to protect the goal from Rachel, who was flying below me. But though the keeper was good, expecting the play, she didn't know we had set her up. Instead of throwing the quaffle down to Rachel, I tossed it up to Shane, then Rachel and I quickly zoomed away from the scoring area and let Shane toss the quaffle straight through the hoop on the left, taking the keeper completely by surprise. We were leading with fifty points to Slytherin's big fat zero. Then I thought all was lost as the Slytherin seeker zoomed straight towards the ground. The crowd gasped as Terence plunged to chase after the snitch. I shouted to Casey to alert him to Terence's plunge, but Casey was not paying attention to Terence. Then Casey shot straight forward, his arm stretching out and his fingers closed around something. He opened his hand, the snitch between his fingers as Terence pulled out of his dive at the last second, expecting to hear Casey crash. Terence had tried the Wronski Feint, but Casey correctly ignored him and had caught the snitch. The referee blew his whistle and the crowd roared, and I could hear our team name being shouted out, along with Ireland.
"Flaming Filans win in a perfct match of two hundred to zero," the commentator shouted. "What a great game!"
I grinned as we flew over the pitch in our victory formation, Casey in the front holding the snitch. Then the crowd gasped as a bludger shot towards Casey at top speed. Ever alert, my cousin deftly spun on his broom, avoiding the speeding bludger by inches. The bludger shot past us, then zoomed straight towards Shane who flung his arm out and knocked it with his kindred powers. The crowd was in an uproar, and officials of all kinds were rushing down to the pitch, shouting at the Slytherin beater that had slammed the bludger our way. I spotted Joy among the Tiernan crowd, and she had set up a shield with her powers to cover Reuben, Melvin and herself. The Tiernan wizards and witches were shouting and cursing in true Irish style at the Hogwarts side, which were in turn also shouting at the Slytherin house. It was an uproar, but relatively minor than what I'd seen happen at several professional Quidditch matches.
Cutting short our victory flight, we touched down immediately and tried to make our way to the locker rooms as quickly as we could. The officials were highly outnumbered by the angry Slytherin house, and though a few hot-headed or courageous wizards and witches from the other houses fought back, most of the others panicked and fled. The Tiernan students were held back by their teachers and principal very effectively, leaving my team open for retaliation by the Slytherins. It angered me to see them wearing green robes and attacking Irish citizens, disgracing our colour.
We Filans were relatively even-temepered, and if we got angry, we could cool down just as quickly as our anger flared up, but to push us beyond a certain point was highly dangerous. We were close to that danger point with Rachel's injury and the bludger attack at Casey, and when Marcus Flint came charging across the pitch waving his wand, he pushed us beyond our limit. With a quick word, he pointed his wand at Casey, a green light pulsing from the wand. Casey groaned and struggled, but we could see he was in pain. He stopped moving suddenly, and collapsed to the ground, completely paralysed except for his eyes. His pupils were starting to turn red, like a fire was lighted in them, matching his fury. Already, Rachel had a red, fiery glow around her head, and Ryan's body was surrounded in a red light. Shane was angrier than I had ever seen him in my life, and Seamus held his club ready to strike at whoever came too close to us. Malcolm, skilled more in healing than the rest of us, began pulling various herbs from his robes to try and break the hex on his brother.
Marcus shouted something, but I barely heard him over the noise of the enraged Slytherins rushing towards us. The officials were wary of hurting the students with their hexes, and the Slytherins were taking full advantage of it. I cracked my knuckles and clenched my fists, ready to fight anyone who dared to come near to us. Marcus waved his wand again and shouted something, but his wand flew out of his hand as Shane flung his arms open. I reached out with my mind, calling to the wind and water, hearing them thunder affirmatively. The sun was covered quickly by angry stormclouds, but no rain came from them. More Slytherins raced to Marcus and the group of them charged closer to us.
I flung my hands upwards, roaring angrily, the thunder echoing my rage. There was a sharp crack and a bright flash as streaks of lightning struck the ground between us and the Slytherin rioters. I could feel my family adding their anger and energy to the environment with its full permission. The rioters fell to the ground unsteadily as Shane's minor earthquake knocked them off-balance. Rachel had caused a wind to whip around the area, blowing dangerously, snatching wands from the unsteady hands of their owners. Ryan and Seamus, with true beater mentality, had worked together to bring hail down on the Slytherin half of the pitch.
Malcolm had managed to release Casey from the binding hex, and the two of them joined in our defensive circle. With all the magic around us, our senses were heightened, and we could tell what each other was doing next. Malcolm focused on the grass in the field, and it began to grow and twist around the legs of the rioters, holding them in place while they braced themselves against the elements. Casey was calling ants from the ground, and the little insects were roused with fighting fury, and were viciously biting any bare flesh they were able to find.
"ENOUGH!" I heard Dumbledore roar, his voice carrying authority throughout the entire stadium without the help of magic. Shane, the eldest of the Filans present, nodded his head curtly, and immediately we brought our magic to a stop. The ground stopped trembling, the wind died, the hail, lightning and storm clouds disappeared from the sky, the grass grew back, and the ants crawled back into the ground. Dumbledore stood right in between us and the now subdued, wet and bruised Slytherins. I smirked at Marcus as he angrily examind his wand which had snapped when a large hailstone had landed on it. There were various other broken wands littered throughout the Slytherin half, and many of the owners were waving their fists at us angrily, but dared not make a move without their wands and with their principal standing in front of them.
Dumbledore spoke to his students in a loud voice, but not enough for us to hear it clearly, but I didn't bother with it. It was none of my business what he said to his students. Pretty soon, the whole group of them trudged off the pitch, a few throwing us backwards glances, which we took as an opportunity to make faces and taunt them.
Dumbledore made his way towards us, his eyes conveying a sense of disappointment. "You are older and more mature than my students, and I would have thought that you would set an example for them."
"Well they started it," Casey argued back. Dumbledore shook his head sadly. "Who started it is not the question, but whether you could see through your anger and ended it peacefully."
I felt ashamed, and I could see my siblings and cousins lowering their heads slightly. Dumbledore watched us in silence for a while. "Every action has a consequence. I know that few wizards respect hedges and druids, and what you did certainly earned their respect. But is it the kind of respect you want to bring; the fear of your powers? Or would a respect for wisdom to hold your peace have left a better impression?"
I felt my cheeks burn, and I couldn't face Dumbledore. He was a wise man, and he was putting things into perspective, which we would have seen if we hadn't let our emotions get the better of us. Dumbledore quietly left us to our thoughts as we pondered the wisdom of his words.
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