Category Five

It was no secret that Quidditch was a big thing. Soul once told her that it was almost as crazy as the Super Bowl, a strange muggle sport that people world-wide watch, just for their 'ads'. In the wizarding world, Quidditch was as important, so it was no surprise that as soon as Maka was deemed healthy enough to play, BlackStar had her doing drills like a madman.

She secretly appreciated this because she was off her game from weeks of no practice but outwardly she was spitting at how much time the long practices were taking away from her school work. Still she followed Star's plays and listened to his criticisms because they were going to need all the help they could get, they were going against Hufflepuff.

Everyone always assumed that Slytherin were the hardasses when it came to Quidditch and for a while that was true. Then a force of nature named Patti Thompson came in and Hufflepuff was suddenly notorious for their dirty plays, out-shining even the nastiest of Slytherins.

Which is how Maka found herself stuck in the locker rooms with nothing but a towel. Maka sat there and waited for someone to find her or for Patti to return her damn clothes. She hated being in here trapped in nothing but a damp towel but she sure as shit was not going out in just a towel in front of everyone, she refused to face that sort of humiliation. She knew Patti too well.

"Maka?"

Oh great, it was Soul. Somehow she wished it was Tsubaki who found her but Maka had been waiting for hours. Maka stood up from the bench and called out, "Can you get me some clothes?"

Soul walked into the changing rooms and stopped dead in his tracks. Looking up quickly, Soul sighed, "Patti?"

"Yup", Maka shifted around, this was so awkward. She was deliberating asking Soul to get Liz to grab her some clothes when Soul cleared his throat.

"Okay, I'll go get some." Soul looked at her and she nodded.

He turned to leave and then stopped. He slowly swivelled around and coughed slightly, "What about uh, underwear?"

Maka hissed at him, turning bright red, "Of course Soul!"

"Uh, right." Soul turned to leave again, Maka could see his ears were red and she sighed before saying, "And a bra too! They're in my trunk, on the right side. Password is Gillyweed!"

Soul left and Maka was left waiting again. It was a painful wait with the thought Soul rifling through her clothes. About ten minutes later Soul walked in through the door with a pile of her robes and a wave of relief came over her.

"Oh thank god!" Maka ran forward to grab the clothes from him, forgetting that she was supposed to be supporting her towel, which had slipped off at her sudden movement. Soul's blush deepened as she let out a tiny scream and ran into a stall to change. Slipping into the comfortable clothes Soul brought her, she fought herself to hide in the stall forever.

Gathering her courage, she went back out to face Soul, who she noticed was trying very hard not to look at her.

"I can't wait for this match to be over." Maka said, startling Soul, she cast him a look and continued, "I almost regret ordering her pranking gear because now I'm copping it"

Soul chuckled and ruffled her hair, "What about me? I have to look at your plain-ass panties."

Maka punched him, her blush returning at full force, "Well sorry not all of us wear sheer lace", Maka sniffed. Maka gathered her stuff into her bag and mumbled, "S'not like anyone's gonna see my panties anyway."

Walking out of the changing rooms Soul coughed, "…About that."

Maka looked up and stopped dead in her tracks because from the highest point of the astrology tower she could see her plain-ass white panties were flapping in the wind.

Patti was going DOWN!

It had been a hard week, with Patti pranking the Gryffindor team at every opportunity. Maka vowed to never order things for Patti again after this was over. Standing in the changing rooms, Maka paced while BlackStar poured over his tactics. She felt uneasy, usually she was a little nervous before a match but this time it was different. There was something unsettling about the weather, it had been raining for the last week and something about that wasn't right, they live in the desert for Death's sake.

She gave up pacing and sat, trying to remember the drills BlackStar wanted her to play when Soul walked in. He was in his robes and for a minute everyone sat up straighter, ready for a fight before they realised it was just Soul and not a spy or Patti herself.

"Hey", he smiled at her.

"Hey", Maka gave a nervous smile in return and motioned for him to go outside with her. When they were outside she dropped her smile and bit her lip, "Soul something doesn't feel right."

Souls hand pulled her jaw up so she was forced to meet his eyes, "It'll be fine Maka."

"I know", She mumbled, still looking at him.

"For luck", Soul said and leant down, pressing his lips against hers.

Maka still felt a thrill when kissing Soul; it was like a bolt of electricity shooting through her body. Heat pooled in her belly and she wrapped her arms around Soul's neck, deepening the kiss.

She felt Soul's hands settle on her hips, the warmth from his hands seeping through the fabric of her robes as he pulled her body closer to his. Maka pushed him against the wall and fisted her hands in his hair as their kisses grew more heated and she grunted as he pulled away and hoisted her up, her legs wrapping around his hips in reflex. In retaliation Maka trailed kisses down this throat, and moved her hips against his. Soul moaned in her ear and he pulled her closer yet.

"Maka!"

Maka pulled away quickly, she knew that voice!

"QUIT MAKING OUT WITH THE ENEMY AND GET IN HERE", BlackStar yelled from the doorway and Maka blushed, moving away from Soul.

Before she could move out of his reach, Soul locked his arms around her waist. Pulling her closer he kissed her softly, "wait."

"Soul", Maka said quietly, "I have a match to play."

"You're gonna fine Maka"

Maka let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding. Somehow he always knew what she needed to hear; Maka wrapped her arms around Soul tightly and kissed him.

"MAKA! YOUR GOD COMMANDS YOU TO GET YOUR ASS IN HERE"

Maka gave Soul a wave and went inside to face BlackStar's heckling.

A half-time huddle later and everyone was making their way to the Quidditch Pitch. The unsettling feeling grew more prominent in Maka's mind and she nearly missed the whistle marking the beginning of the match.

Touching off from the ground, Maka flew around searching for the snitch. Deciding it would be better to go higher up to see scan the pitch; she noticed the fog was getting thicker and it was making it impossible to see. Moving around she watched her team struggle to face off against Patti's brutal attacks and scanned the grounds for the snitch so they could end the game early.

Following some of BlackStar's plays, she noticed the atmosphere growing colder as the fog thickened and the unsettling feeling in her gut grew stronger. It was uncharacteristically cold for the Nevada desert, even for winter, but she guessed it was just offset from the dementors stationed around the school's perimeter.

Maka continued to scan for the snitch, wincing as Patti knocked one of their beaters unconscious and scored.

A flash of gold in the skies above her caught Maka's eye, trying to avoid the Hufflepuff seeker, Maka made her way upwards into the fog, searching for the golden ball that would end this game in Gryffindor's favour. She was so focused of following the snitch she missed the flashes of black and when a Dementor appeared directly in front of her it took all of strength not to fall off her broom as she dropped to avoid it's kiss.

Maka was panicking, she knew that dementors only did that to the worst of the criminals, and there was no mistaking that rattling intake of breath that meant the loss of her Soul.

Maka tried to get her bearings in the heavy fog that settled in the skies when she caught sight of another Dementor, dropping rapidly again she fell right into the path of a whole hoard.

She let out a startled scream and tried evading the pack.

It was too late!

They had her surrounded and each black cloaked nightmare drew a rattling breath.

There was no time!

She had to cast her patronus. She couldn't even cast a patronus! Panicking she tried to calm herself, practically ripping her wand out of her waistband and hurriedly casting the spell.

She watched, terrified, as the hoard drew closer, their hollow gasping growing louder as outstretched skeletal hands took hold of her robes. Maka tried to cast her patronus again and watched as the spell fizzled and died.

And then they descended.

It felt as if the air from her lungs were being ripped out. Swoop after swoop the dementors took more and more of her. She was feeling faint and all she could hear were screams of terror.

She was dying.

She would never see Soul again and the thought of his face, what he would go through if she died, spurred her into action.

Maka cast her wand in a large arc, as if to slash through the demons in front of her, and cast her patronus. The last thing she saw was a blazing phoenix reigning fire unto the dementors.

And then she fell of her broom.

Maka woke up and immediately rolled over to vomit into a bucket that someone had thoughtfully left beside the bed. She was feeling awful, and vowed to never find herself in the infirmary again. Exhausted, Maka wiped her mouth, rolled over and went back to sleep.

When she woke up again, Soul was snoring into her shoulder. His arms were wrapped tightly around her waist, so she struggled to sit up, and when she did she came face to face with her papa.

She could tell he wasn't happy about Soul being in the hospital bed with her but he managed to restrain himself. Giving her a small kiss on the head and a tight hug he left, not explaining what the hell happened and how she ended up in the infirmary in the first place.

Looking down at Soul, she realised he was still dead to the world and there was no one else around so she sighed and wiggled back down and into Souls arms, drifting back off to sleep.

When Maka woke up again, it was because Patti and BlackStar were bickering. When they noticed she was awake, they went silent and there was a chorus of awkward 'hey's.

Sitting up, Maka looked at her friends suspiciously, "what's going on?" She asked.

"You passed out Dipshit"

"Dementor attack!"

"We lost the match"

"Roar! Phoenix-man saves the day!"

"Shut up you two!" From Maka's side Soul threw a box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans at BlackStar. Soul slumped back down and dug his hands into his eyes, "Kid better explain. He knows more that those idiots do."

"Shut up and bow – "

"Star", Tsubaki placed a hand on BlackStar's shoulder and nudged him and Patti out the infirmary.

Kid sat down heavily in the chair and began telling Maka what happened, "Father was furious. The Dementors came inside the school grounds and started attacking students in the Quidditch pitch." Kid looked at Soul quickly before returning to his explanation, "Apparently Chrona and Ragnorak aren't the only spies in here."

Maka looked between Kid and Soul in confusion, "Wait, so the Dementors weren't sent by the Ministry?"

"No."

"So what does Soul have to do with all this?"

"Jeez Kid, you're making me sound guilty." Soul sat up and looked at Maka, "The Dementors were working for Professor Medusa."

It took a moment for Maka to process what Soul and Kid were implying, when she finally understood a wave of nausea hit her and she doubled over to vomit into a clean bucket beside her bed. When she finished retching she noticed Soul's hand on her back and Kid's look of disgust.

Ignoring both of their reactions Maka wiped her mouth, "Didn't she treat Soul? Does that mean she…"

"We don't have a clue what she's done to him", Kid looked grim.

"But can't you – "

"We've run all the tests." Someone said from behind her. Turning around, Maka found Stein and Lord Death looking haggard.

"Maka, why don't we wait until you're feeling better to discuss this", Lord Death said, "afterall, you did save us all, I would think that doing so was very tiring. Even for a witch such as yourself."

Before Maka could ask just what the hell he meant, Lord Death and Stein walked out.

"Well I am needed back in class", Kid gave them a little wave before following his father and Stein, leaving Soul and Maka alone.

Confused, Maka nudged Soul, "What did they mean?"

"Well you saved us."

"Yeah, but how? All I did was pass out."

"So you mean you didn't see it?"

"See what?!"

Soul gripped Maka's shoulders lightly, "Maka, your patronus! You can cast a fully formed patronus!"

"What?" Maka looked at Soul, astounded, "Well what is it?"

Soul looked as if he could barely contain himself. His grip on her shoulders tightened and he kissed her. Pulling her tightly against him, Soul tangled his hands in her hair as she kissed him back with just as much vigour.

Pulling away Soul looked at Maka, they were so close that he went slightly cross-eyed, "Maka, your patronus is a phoenix!"

-Omake-

Maka listened half-heatedly to her papa's lecture on her compact mirror. He was yelling something about her purity and octopi but Maka couldn't focus. Instead she let her mind wander to the discussion she had with Lord Death and Stein in the Death Room.

They couldn't find anything wrong with Soul after discovering Professor Medusa's betrayal. Apparently she was behind Joe Buttaki's murder as well and to Maka this was simply unforgivable. Whatever Medusa had done to Soul could not be found but they feared that something might manifest later on if he was not watched.

So Maka got the privilege of lodging with Soul over the Christmas period to Make sure nothing funny happened to him outside school (that and her papa was on damage control clean-up for the Ministry). Maka didn't seem to mind much, snapping her compact closed she watched Soul shave in his ensuite.

She caught his eye in the mirror and smiled at him, spreading out further on his bed and watching his reaction.

Soul went bright red and returned to concentrating on shaving.

"Fuck!"

Maka sat up and looked at Soul, "What's wrong?"

"Nicked myself"

"Come here you idiot", Maka laughed. Soul came towards her and handed her a wad of paper to stick on the cut. Maka was about to press it on the wound when she noticed something peculiar. Moving him closer to the light, she felt her body grow cold.

"Soul. Your blood is black."

Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed it. It was super fun to enter for resbang and hopefully I'll contribute next year too.