I don''t really know what happened to the Malfoys after our match, but the news was they were... away. As to why? Nobody said anything, and I was not in the mood to ask. Out of shame? I don''t think so. They wouldn''t know what shame is even if they were hit in the face with it. Were they sent away by the Headmaster? Could be… or did HE have something to say about it? Well… whatever the reason was, I can''t believe to say this, but it was fun to have a Dark Arts lesson with Professor Lockhart hosting it. We were just finishing a class with him on Friday, the last day before the winter break and the day before the final.


    "Little champ!" He laughed, clearly asking for me, making my mouth twitch while I turned around.


    "Yes, Professor?"


    "Here!" He grinned, giving me a letter, "It''s from your Father!"


    "..." I took it while looking at him, knowing it was probably read by him, and saw from the corner of my eyes that Quincy quickly stiffened, expecting some grave news…


    "I didn''t read it!" He whispered, leaning closer, patting my shoulders, "We are friends, kiddo, don''t forget that! When you get to be a Death Eater… You ought to remember me!"


    "Buying me off?" I asked it in my head but formed a small, friendly smile. Watching his eyes, all my senses told me the same: he wasn''t lying. He truly did not read it and was trying to get on my good side. Huh! "Thank you, Professor!" I answered, slipping the letter into my robe''s pocket. "I will remember this."


    His simple answer was a hearty laugh before we left with Quincy. Heading to the North Tower was a given, and it was there where I opened the letter, reading it out loud for her.


    "It was a good choice for you to stay at school. I met with Lucius in the Ministry two days ago. He is cashing in all of his favors! He spoke and visited everyone who owed him and he is planning to run a campaign against me… against us. Our family. And that is not all! He is going to publicly attack the Blacks through the Daily Prophet. He will try and use the public to denounce both of our families and pressure Walburga, giving her only one way out of it: giving Quincy to him."


    "If he does that, why does he still want me?" She snorted, sounding indignant on my behalf.


    "Father is an oracle it seems, because he answered it." I chuckled, not really bothered by the news. Watching Father''s handwriting and the letter''s tone, I could almost see him smirking when writing it. "He was always a narrow-minded man. More of a snake than anything… no. That is an insult to snakes as he is a weasel, nothing more. He doesn''t want Quincy he just wants to make you feel hurt. I will deal with the public, so don''t worry about it! This is nothing more than a hissy-fit of an idiot. If he would have the gall, he would have challenged me to a duel… but I may do that to him. We will see. For now, enjoy the break, and don''t mind us! As to Walburga… I care not what she decides on. Quincy is staying with us as long as she wants. Case closed!"


    "I like Father!" She concluded happily, asking for the letter and reading it herself before putting it away.


    "You mean, my Father?"


    "I mean, our Father! Or do you want to annul the engagement, too?" She asked with her eyebrows raised.


    "No!" I answered in a panic and saw a grin creep onto her face.


    "Good! He is right! We will enjoy the break! You win tomorrow, then we forget everything and… just relax a little!"


    "Fine by me! I''m only surprised he didn''t mention Draco… oh well! If we are lucky enough, we won''t see him for a while!"


    …


    ….


    ……


    When the next day came, I woke up with a ready-for-all attitude. I felt refreshed and my mind free of distractions, exactly what I needed. We were not late this time, had breakfast early, and waited patiently for the finals to commence. The Great Hall was crammed with students, the teachers, and with some house elves. The three other finalists were beside me, all of them 7th-year students, as we stood in a straight line, listening to Lockhart''s speech. Two of us were Slytherins, while others were from Ravenclaw and Gryffindor... interesting.


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    My opponent for the first round was the other Slytherin. I didn''t get her name, but she was a tall, lanky girl with dark blonde hair and nervously clinging blue eyes. Unlike some of my previous opponents, she didn''t give me any trouble and was surprisingly cordial. We did the bow and waited for the countdown of Professor Lockhart, who became the new host. I have to say, he knew how to raise something''s entertainment value, giving a flowery speech and commenting about us before calling us up to the stage. Am I starting to like him? I think I will need to check into the infirmary after this… because a spell could have impacted my brain…


    My opponent didn''t play any dirty tricks. But she did open with the Imperius Curse, trying to catch me off-guard and make me give up at once. Luckily, our ritual equipped me with the mind-shield I needed to battle against it; otherwise, I would have lost this round. The moment her thoughts crept into my consciousness, the basilisk blood in me shook it off and lashed out at her, expelling the girl from my head. I saw her falter and take a step backward, and I capitalized on it. I missed the raised eyebrows and the fact that people were surprised about me shaking it off like nothing, overlooking the fact that I performed something equally as strange.


    Although I exclaimed ''flipendo'' in my head, I was focusing on a different spell. Two in fact. I was making her levitate off the ground before quickly hitting her with another jinx, sending her flying. I ensured she landed off the stage, but not as hard as any of my previous opponents. She was cordial all the way through, and I did not want to hurt her. When she realized that she lost, she bowed towards me and took it gracefully, which I returned the same. Why can''t more people be like her?


    Well… my next opponent, the Ravenclaw student, was the exact opposite. The guy was pompous and acted like a younger Lockhart in my eyes… wait? Was this his son? I took a few quick peeks, but no… this one had faded red hair and green eyes. His facial features were more that of a squirrel, and even though I would compare Lockhart to the butt of a baboon if you asked me… In reality, he was good-looking. The bastard.


    "One more…" I told myself, calming down my emotions, looking for Quincy, and her smile and thumbs up was the only thing I needed to succeed.


    The guy was crafty, I give him that… He started casting wordlessly before Lockhart finished the countdown… Sill. I noticed the change in his neck and forearm muscles. But I didn''t recognize the spell itself. It was… unique. It had to be something he came up with because I had no recollection of any magic like this. I opened with Protego, but it still slipped through, turning the ground below my leg into an ice field. I very quickly turned the bottom of my shoe sticky, getting back my balance and firing a flame spell, hitting his second bizarre and cold projectile.


    It resulted in a massive explosion, sending water vapor everywhere and pushing him backward. Because I was literally glued to the frozen stage, I didn''t move an inch, giving me time to cast my blue flames. Uttering the incantation, I enveloped him in it, knowing it wasn''t as useful as before. He was prepared for it.


    His shield charm was made out of ice, nullifying the fire''s strength, but he made the mistake of thinking this was my trump card. No. My trump card was the fact that I was able to adapt faster than any of my peers in this competition. I blasted him with ''confringo'' and made sure his shield and some of his bones were shattered, making him vomit a significant amount of blood before collapsing.


    "Jackass," I mumbled, waving my wand ceremoniously before putting it away, taking a deep breath, and feeling… refreshed. This felt good… dominating others… felt really good. "No." I shook my head at the thought. That was not really MY thought. Damn…


    "Conrad!"


    Quincy''s shout was what brought me out of my weird state, and I didn''t mind her jumping on me in front of everyone, and I also didn''t mind pecking her lips right there and then. Lucius be damned… Let everyone know what is what!


    "Ahaha, little rascal!" I heard Lockhart''s laugh as he approached me, patting my shoulders, winking at Quincy, who was bright as a tomato, wanting to hide while repeatedly kicking my shin. Oh well… it was worthy of this type of punishment… and I would do it again in a heartbeat.


    Surprisingly, after all of this, the school hosted a banquet in the evening, gratifying every finalist and me. I even got an award, which was a plaque with my name that would be placed in the trophy room of the school. Hah! Great! I can point at it any time, angering Draco and Lucius every day… perfect! This is even better than giving me money or something else! The feast was extraordinary, even by Hogwarts standards. When we finished I felt that the trek down to the dungeons and back to our common rooms was torture… but this was bliss.


    Sitting there with Quincy was relaxing. Yet it was broken as others came up to us, congratulating us, and soon we found ourselves at the other end… She was mainly looked at weirdly from the start of the first year. Now? That seemed to change. Was I the reason? Probably. Did it bother us? Not really. I, in fact, welcomed the change! I didn''t plan to suddenly make everyone into my friend… but having a standing and an influential voice amongst the others didn''t sound bad. No… it sounded exactly what we would need… If the public is on our side, Lucius can try manipulating it as much as he wants…