Rey picked at the sausage on the golden plate, half-heartedly cutting it into progressively smaller pieces with the side of her fork. Despite the sunlight flowing in through the tall windows and the enchanted ceiling, the mood in the Great Hall felt somber. The chatter that accompanied breakfast seemed muted, and Rey knew the strange numbness in her mind was only a small factor of that. Students were conspicuously missing at their usual seats with their groups of friends, and the Slytherin table looked especially bare without the mass of their Quidditch team taking up the space by the fireplace.

The familiar call of owls made Rey's head jump up to the ceiling. Beebee had not returned from St. Mungo's Hospital, but she doubted she would be able to catch his strange orange feathers through the throng of birds that fought for a space to fly through the owl window. The past week had seen an influx of letters from concerned parents, and many of those parents had appeared at meal times as they arrived to ensure their children were all right. Rey had witnessed Professors Kanata and Ackbar consoling a few grieving witches and wizards in the Entrance Hall.

Her eyes followed the birds as they broke away from the mass of feathers to their respective recipients. Down the table, Jessika Pava untied a small parcel from a tawny owl. White bandages wrapped around her left hand from a burn curse that Madam Kalonia had claimed could not be magically healed. She knew bandages covered Finn's calf from the same curse.

"Hey buddy!" Poe's cheerful voice ripped Rey's eyes from Jessika. Beebee chirped a greeting and ruffled his feathers as Poe took a letter from his leg. Finn pushed his goblet of water toward the owl.

Rey leaned forward, barely resisting the urge to reach across the table and snatch the parchment from Poe's hand. "Did Ben write back?"

Poe unfurled the parchment, his eyes flicking over the writing. "No. From my mum." He met her confused look. "She's helping coordinate everyone who's at St. Mungo's because of what happened at the Ministry and Hux Manor."

Disappointment settled in Rey's stomach, and she went back to poking her cut sausages with her fork. She pierced a piece with the tongs and stabbed a few more without bothering to put any in her mouth. The buzzing of student chatter seemed to grow louder around them, and Rey felt irritation rise in her chest. Why were they all acting as if classes and drama with friends were the most important things in life? Han Solo was dead. A professor had manipulated students into trying to take over the wizarding world – and probably the Muggle world, too. The Daily Prophet had been happily broadcasting all of the personal details of the Skywalker extended family, with special gleeful interest in Ben and his lineage with Vader.

"Whoa. Rey, look." Rey grunted something and poked another piece of sausage. Finn's foot nudged hers under the table. "Rey."

She sighed and looked up. Her fork dropped onto the plate with a clatter. A man cloaked in brown robes that billowed behind him strode up between the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw tables. A thick grey and white beard covered most of his face. Professor Organa flanked him, her short height almost comical next to the man and the broad frame of her son next to her.

Rey heard Poe mutter something about Luke Skywalker, but she kept her eyes on Ben. His shoulders curled in their usual slouch, but he walked with… confidence. Students watched their progress up to the staff table, and Ben met the gazes of those that blatantly stared at him, not with hostility but with an air of someone who would not stand for whispered criticisms.

Ben broke away from the other two as they reached the staff table and made a beeline for Rey. He gave a soft, pained smile and murmured softly, "Can we talk?"

Rey's leg swung in the air as she examined her wand. The bright sun twinkled off the wood, highlighting the various fingerprints that covered the surface. The simple design was familiar; it had been a part of her for six years, but now it felt… strange. As if it had gone on a long trip and changed. She held it out to Ben. "I don't think it's mine anymore."

He took it slowly, holding it delicately in his big Beater's hands as he stared at it with an unreadable expression. "It feels more… friendly than mine ever did." He gave a confused look. "Does that even make sense?"

Rey smiled softly and nodded. "You blocked a Killing Curse – multiple Killing Curses – with it. I think it likes you better than me."

Ben shook his head and held the wand out again. "But what about you?"

Rey shrugged and looked down at her broom. They hovered just a few metres from Hogwart's Quidditch pitch. The handle of her old broom needed a polishing. "I imagine Phasma won't need hers anytime soon. I can use it until I can visit Huyang." She silently wondered if she had enough sickles left to even pay the ancient wandmaker.

Rey put her hand on Ben's arm. "Hux said you would've been more powerful had you not been using your grandfather's wand. Finn did some reading on wands… I think mine choose you after you protected me with it. I think it's why you were able to deflect the curse. Why you said all your spells felt easier to cast."

Ben's brown eyes searched her face. They still had a certain shyness to them, but they were somehow sharper now. More confident despite the pain of what had happened just a week previously. He hunched over the sleek black of his broomstick. "I didn't want to kill her. I… I didn't mean to…"

"I know." Rey pressed a kiss to the side of Ben's face. "But she would've killed you. And me." She curled Ben's fingers around her former wand. "It's yours."

"Thank you." Ben examined the wand for a moment and met her gaze again. "For… getting me out. No one noticed what Snoke was doing to me. I didn't notice."

Rey nodded slowly. "Can I ask you something?" At his nod, she continued carefully, "Why did you kill him like that? You had the power to cast a curse." The Prophet had printed wild speculations on Snoke's death, mostly hinting at a mentally unhinged Ben.

Ben tucked his new wand into his Slytherin robes and turned his broom slightly to the left to prevent their drifting course from hitting one of the hoops. His eyes trained on the golden metal as he spoke, "He cast these… wards over himself. Wouldn't teach anyone else how to do it, but from what I understood, the spells protected him from offensive spells. That's why my mum's Stun didn't faze him." His expression did not look mournful, but rather it had a touch of hope to it. "He wasn't a Quidditch player. He didn't understand that physical force is just as powerful as magic."

Rey nodded, and their brooms drifted higher on the light wind as they fell into silence. She could see students milling about on the castle grounds, enjoying the warm spring weather next to the lake. "Who d'you think would've won the Cup?"

"Ravenclaw," Ben answered without hesitation. He glanced at her and let out a laugh, dispelling the serious tone between them that was more than the cancellation of the Quidditch Cup. "I'm serious! You lot were brilliant."

Rey smiled and pulled out Phasma's old wand to cast a Summoning Charm. "One-on-one game to decide whose House is the best?"

A Quaffle nudged her hands, and she put the wand away to hold the ball easily. The side of Ben's mouth twitched. "A Chaser against a Beater? Not entirely fair."

Rey shrugged and tossed the Quaffle up in the air to catch it again. "If you're afraid you'll lose…"

Ben's hand shot out between them and hit the Quaffle to knock it away from Rey before it could land back in her hands. He then leaned forward and shot toward the dimpled ball, catching it. Rey shouted a "hey!" that was more a laugh than annoyance. Ben glanced behind him, and Rey caught a glimpse of a wide smile on his face before he sped up.

Rey's old Cleansweep struggled to keep up with Ben's Nimbus as they pelted across the pitch, so she pulled out her wand and aimed a simple jinx at the ball tucked under his left arm. She dropped down low and caught it while turning back to the closer hoops.

"Foul!" she heard Ben yell from somewhere behind her. "Jinxes can't be used!"

Rey laughed and held the Quaffle against her stomach to protect it from a retaliating spell. "Ref hasn't said anything."

The wind whipped at her face as she neared the hoops. She knew Ben would be near enough to try a tackle, so she threw the Quaffle with all her might at the right hoop. Ben sped around her and managed to hit the flying red ball with his foot. It bounced off the pole of the middle hoop and fell toward the ground. Rey dived, her mind focused so much on catching the Quaffle that she did not notice Ben until they collided into each other. They crashed against the sandy portion around the hoops.

Ben groaned softly from next to Rey, and she froze. "Are you all right? Is your chest okay?"

He turned, his laugh growing louder. "Yeah, yeah. It's fine." He carded a hand through his hair and shook his head. "I don't think the one-on-one thing is going to work. We're too competitive not to break every rule."

"Then you'll just need more players." Rey sat up to see Finn and Poe both holding their broomsticks over their shoulders. Poe flashed a wide grin. "Some of the Gryffindor players saw your pathetic attempts at a game."

Rey accepted Ben's offered hand to help her up and brushed the sand off her robes. "We were just working out how to play with one member teams."

Finn snorted. "'Teams.' I think we can help you actually use that word correctly."

He gestured with his broom behind him. Players from every House team, except Slytherin, filed onto the field clutching brooms from old school-owned Comets and Cleansweeps to Nimbuses. Two younger students carried out the rattling chest that held the Bludgers and the Snitch. As they crowded around each other, Rey noticed two more people following up the group of players.

Organa gestured at the bearded man beside her. "Luke wants to ref, seeing as you two already are inclined to break the rules." She gave a bright smile that seemed to be reserved for Ben alone and held up her broom. "But I thought Slytherin deserved a little more representation on the field. We can't have everyone thinking we're all megalomaniacs."

Their impromptu inter-House Quidditch game drew a crowd as the afternoon wore on. Too many players had shown up for traditional teams, and after a chaotic hour of trying to play teams of ten, they switched out players every once in a while. Those on the sidelines cheered their team on, even those who had stared at Ben in the Great Hall happily yelled as he sped toward a Bludger.

Leia, as she insisted everyone who fought at Hux Manor call her, turned out to be a surprisingly adept Chaser. It took all of Rey's skill to keep the Quaffle away from her, and even then, she and her fellow Chasers, one of her Ravenclaw teammates and Jessika Pava, fell for her tricks and experience.

The sun reflected off the lake as it began to slide below the horizon. Luke called a time-out to switch out players, and Rey flew to the edge to let one of the Hufflepuff Chasers take her place. Ben handed his Beater's bat to a Ravenclaw Beater before he hovered next to her. His purple robes – they had magically dyed the robes of their team to avoid confusion – waved in the wind as he ran a hand through his tousled hair.

The mob of black and purple robed Chasers raced by as the game continued. Rey vaguely wondered if the Snitch had even been released, or if Finn and other Seeker who Rey did not know well were purposely extending the good-natured game.

"Hey," Ben's low voice murmured beside her. He gave her a soft smile, his brown eyes light in the setting sun. "Thank you."

Ben rested a hand against Rey's neck and pulled her close to press his lips against hers.

AN: And there you have it, folks. Thank you so much for reading and commenting! If you're so inclined, please check out my other Reylo fics centered in the Star Wars universe.