It would go down as the greatest and bloodiest fight in Hogwarts history. School fight, that is. Nothing could ever quite compare with the bloodshed of the Battle of Hogwarts, though there were a few who ran around comparing the number of injuries. It was certainly the most visible and contained fight (only in the sense that the fighting occurred in one place) the school had ever seen. Almost every student and teacher had been present. Interestingly this fight was not fought with wands, but with fists. And of course, like anything of interest during the time, it involved quite a lot of Potters and quite a lot of Weasleys. It had all started, they said, because Michael Shaw, a 4th year Ravenclaw had made a terrible mistake.
The stadium was beside itself. In the air, the banners of every house, even a few from Ravenclaw who had just narrowly lost the Quidditch House Cup, waved and fluttered. Chants and cheers rained down on the Gryffindor players as they landed. James Sirius was hardly off his broom before he tackled his sister in a bear hug. He kissed her roughly, shaking her in his excitement and victory before moving on to kiss the Gryffindor Seeker, Ian Simmons. He wasn't the only one. Her cousin Rose, the team's Keeper, and Bailey Paddington, a Chaser, were hugging in midair. Hugo was waving his Beater's club around and dancing.
Lily smiled so hard her cheeks were starting to burn, but she relished the pain. She had just made a play that would have sent her mother sprinting with elation. She couldn't wait to write home.
As the chants for Gryffindor roared to an all time high, Lily spun, taking in the colors and looking for him. They were friends. Well, friends until Michael had asked her to sit with him at dinner after the match. Lily's excitement bubbled and threatened to boil over. Her cousin Rose ran over and swept her off her feet. While she spun and laughed, Lily still looked. When she found him, her face fell a little. After pulling herself from Rose's grasp, Lily ran over to the retreating back.
"Michael!" she said, pulling on his arm. Her friend turned to face her. "Pretty good, huh?" she said, breathlessly.
"A pretty good idiot, you mean?" Michael snapped.
Lily's arm dropped. "What?"
Almost everyone else was red faced from excitement and adrenaline, but Michael's look was different. "Your stunt. You made me look like an idiot." He pulled away sharply. "Where did you pull that from, anyway?"
Lily stared as his anger washed over her. Michael had a tendency to be rough around the edges, but never like this. "No, I didn't," she argued. "It was a good play."
Good play was an understatement. Simmons was going to catch the snitch, there had been no question of that. Compared to the Ravenclaw Seeker, he was the better of the two, and he had spent most of the game trying to throw his opponent off.
Catching the Snitch would have meant nothing if Gryffindor hadn't been at least seventy points up. It was a common dilemma in Quidditch, but one the Gryffindors couldn't lose. Not in James and Freddie's last year. In the last seconds of the game, Gryffindor was only fifty points up, and the Ravenclaw Seeker had spotted the Snitch. Ian had no choice but to dive for it too. As he sped off, James scored another goal for Gryffindor. The crowd cheered with hope and anticipation. A Ravenclaw Chaser grabbed the Quaffle and threw it across the pitch, right for Michael. Ian was almost at the Snitch. Lily saw her opportunity. As Michael reached for the ball, Lily smacked it out his hands, steadied hers, and tore off for the Ravenclaw goals. It had all happened in seconds. Three seconds before Ian's fist wrapped around the Snitch. Michael caught up and made to cut Lily off. She didn't know why she did it, it was crazy in hindsight-her mother had fallen forty feet the one time she had done it and she was a professional. Two seconds. Michael turned and Lily jumped, pushing herself off her broom, off Michael's back, flying unsupported through the air and spiking the Quaffle as hard as she could. It soared passed the Keeper's fingers just as Ian closed his hand around the fluttering wings of the ball. Lily landed safely on her broom and the stadium exploded.
It was a marvelous game. Truly one she'd remember forever, but Michael clearly hadn't seen it that way. "Lucky is what it was, maybe."
"I was good."
"Please," he sneered. "The only reason you didn't plummet to your death was because I pushed your broom in front of you." Lily's eyes narrowed at the lie, but Michael continued. "You're only on the team because your brother's captain. And Merlin knows he can't do anything without his posse. If your brother wasn't a slimy Slytherin he'd be on the team too."
Michael tried to turn away, but Lily grabbed his Jersey and yanked him back. "Don't talk about my brothers."
"Get off me!" he yelled, pushing her away. Everyone said Michael Shaw was ruthless when it came to Quidditch. In the locker room, they joked and mimicked all kinds of animals they said he looked like. James pretended to quiver in fear as Freddie paraded around throwing jerseys and waters in a "rage." But he had never been anything but nice to Lily. Lily who was on the team for the first year. Lily who had lost to him months back. He had been nothing but sweet and encouraging then.
But Lily wasn't letting go. In this regard, among many, she was too much like her mother. Her fingernails pierced his arm. "They're right, aren't they? You're a sore loser."
"Don't sit on your high horse just yet. You're a one trick pony whose got no talent except what her brothers let her have."
Lily clenched her jaw as her eyes stung. She had told him that in confidence, spilled a little of her insecurities to get to know him better. It was a hard thing, being a Potter and a Weasley, especially when it came to making friends. Her father had once said that she should never aim to hurt. There was nothing wrong with walking away.
But this had been good. This had been hers and she couldn't let him take that. Lily's mouth opened before she could stop herself, "Then I'll just go back to my brothers. Maybe they can make sure someone watches your cage properly this time," she spat, eyeing his thick-haired arms.
Instead of twisting away, like she had expected him to, Michael wrenched his arm out of Lily's, reared back, and punched her clean in the face.
And this was the mistake Michael Shaw had made, because not only had hurt the youngest Potter-which would have been enough to send him to the Hospital Wing-he had done it while her two older brothers had been watching.
James Potter appeared out of nowhere. Before Lily even registered the pain in her face, she saw a flash of red, and two bodies went crashing down. And then, utter chaos.
In a rush of bodies, the two teams attacked each other, each equally trying to protect and defend their own team members. A Ravenclaw wrapped his arm around James' neck, successfully yanking him off before Fred Weasley ripped him away. Two Ravenclaws pushed Fred to the ground and were immediately engaged by Ian Simmons and Lydia Barnes, a Gryffindor Beater. Red hair went flying as Rose jumped on a Ravenclaw Beater's back, bringing her down and snatching the club that had been aimed at Ian from her hand. Someone pulled Rose's hair, and suddenly both Lily and Hugo were there, Hugo twisting the guys arm around his back. All around them the cheers of the crowd roared in a different kind of excitement and anticipation.
High in the stands, Headmistress McGonagall had stopped mid-applause. She had perfect confidence that Madam Hooch could settle a Quidditch brawl easily, but she realized, just a second after Mr. Potter had dropped Mr. Shaw, that this would be no normal fight. All around the stands, bodies were moving, most to lean over and watch from above. It was those moving towards the stairs that alerted her. She was the first professor her feet.
She was halfway down the stairs when another person knocked her aside.
"Ms. Weasley!" she yelled, reaching out to pull the Fourth year and Sixth year back. A waste of breath, really. Roxanne and Molly Weasley flew down the stairs.
The Headmistresss chased after them. She rushed out of the stairs, blinking the sun from her eyes, and gasped. In the few minutes it had taken had taken her to reach the field, the fight had escalated. Roxanne and Molly had almost reached the fray, and from across the way Albus Potter had pushed his way passed a group of watching Slytherins. The Prefect tore across the field in a flash of black and green, ripping his robes from his body, a dark, determined look on his face. All around students were charging across the field. The Headmistress ran on as quickly as she could.
It seemed the no one but Madam Hooch was using a wand, and yet the brawl only seemed to charge on more ferociously. Fred Weasley was Stunned off another player only to be replaced by Hugo Weasley. From the Ravenclaw section, Dominique and Louis Weasley sprinted forward, their scarves trailing along behind them. Hufflepuff Lucy Weasley streaked passed the Headmistress without a backward glance. Together, she and Ian Simmons yanked a Ravenclaw off another Gryffindor. More Hufflepuffs came after her. Ravenclaws swarmed in response. The Slytherins too had joined, fiercely defending their friends from the warring houses.
By the time Headmistress McGonagall had truly reached the battle, she was joined by Professor Longbottom. Wands appeared and Stunners flew, and still it took several long minutes to achieve any kind of order. The amount of students sent to the Hospital Wing sent Madam Pomphrey into a rage. It was nothing compared to what the Headmistrees had for those Longbottom brought up to her office.
As Minerva McGonagall stood at her desk holding Michael Shaw's broken broom in her bloodless fist-the same broom Albus Potter had broken over Mr. Shaw's back-she finally realized her wish of retiring to a slower, quieter life would never happen. She glared at the 11 Weasleys currently standing in her office. There was blood everywhere. Lucy had a split lip. James Potter had blood on his hands and on the bridge of his nose behind his broken glasses. Roxanne held her side gingerly, while Lily held a hand under her nose, hot blood slipping through her fingers. Both Hugo and Dominique sported swelling eyes, and Louis had blood coming from his mouth. Molly was trying very hard to balance on one foot and Albus Potter looked unconcerned about the bruise forming on the side of his face. But what really pissed Minerva off was that not one of them looking anything but determined and smug. And all the while Professor Longbottom tried to hide his gleeful smile behind his hand. He failed.
She took a deep, shaking breath. She would have to be Headmistress until the say she died, she thought as her eyes swept over her very frequent victims.
By all means, who else would handle this shit?
