Changing From Within
Chapter Nine
Game Time
It appears coming back from the future has given us an advantage. Whereas we were all able to cast the Impedimenta Jinx first time, it takes the Slytherins a few tries before they are able to produce the same effects. And even then, Crabbe and Goyle only manage to slow a person for about a second.
But, having all semi-successfully cast the spell, we head back around the castle to the tree where we are all to meet. Getting there, we see Fred, George and GLouise have done more than we expected. The amount of Slytherins and Gryffindor's gathered around in little groups has to be at least three quarters of each house. The Hufflepuff contingents is tiny compared to the greens and reds. With only a handful of Ravenclaw's joining.
My idea on having multiple house teams appears to be flowing away down the lake to play with the giant squid – who I am still to lay eyes on. But, the turnout is still bigger than expected, so I head forward to where Fred, George, Adam, Gregor, Steph, Megan and Hannah are standing.
"Where's Katherine?" I ask as soon as I get in line with the others, facing at least half of the school population.
"Still trying to round up more Ravenclaw's," Gregor answers, "She got most of our year to come, she's working on the second years now."
"Oh, well good luck to her." I reply with a shrug off my shoulders.
"Should we just get started?" Steph adds, "I don't like the way that group of Gryffindor's is eyeing the Slytherin's." I look over to where she indicated where a group of sixth year Gryffindor's are eyeing a smaller group of fifth year Slytherin's.
"Good idea." I decide quickly, before turning to the Weasely twins. "You want to head this off? They are more likely to listen to you two than a bunch of first years."
With a nod off acceptance, the twins step forward and, in perfect synchronisation, lift their wands and send red sparks into the air. The large group quiet down, eyeing the twins apprehensively.
"Right, since you are all here,"
"We can take a guess you know the rules for this game," The twins start, various bystanders shake their heads in the positive.
"So we won't waste time,"
"Going over the mundane."
"Only the Impediment jinx is allowed."
"Two teams left standing fight at the end."
"Five hits and you are out."
"Any cheating, and you are,"
"Disqualified." My head hurts from keeping track of their twin speak.
"We will give you ten minutes to prepare."
"Outside only,"
"No bringing the game inside, as,"
"No magic is allowed in the corridors,"
"If you are out, come back here to sit and wait,"
"Or go inside."
"And,"
"Most importantly,"
"Have fun," The twins finish together. They then flap their hands, sending everyone away. I immediately turn to my best friends.
"Team up?" I ask, to which I receive nods in response. To my complete surprise, Daphne, Pansy, Tracy and Millicent come over to us.
"Can we team with you guys?" Tracy asks, fingering her wand as she watches the rest of the school split up into groups and head out, everyone discussing various strategies. To my pleasure, I notice some teams already have multi house people in them. One team in particular, includes two Slytherins, Three Ravenclaw's, a Gryffindor and a Hufflepuff, they are huddled together at the castle doors, talking readily between one another.
"Sure you can," I answer, "The more the merrier."
"So," Hannah voices, "We need a plan."
"We need somewhere with cover, so we can shoot and not be shot back at," I state obviously, but with the amount of groups huddled around the grounds, that doesn't look like it is going to be an easy task.
"What about Hagrid's hut?" Tracy asks, pointing over in the distance where we can see the stone hut slowly smoking. No one is currently visible over there.
"No," Daphne and I answer as one, I gesture for her to continue.
"There is a reason no one is down there," She continues readily, "It is low ground, we would have to shoot up hill, and those coming down would have the advantage over us."
"But we will be hiding behind the hut where we can shoot at anyone coming down, they won't get a clear shot at us." Steph disagrees, I wave over Katherine as I notice her coming back out, A small troop of third year Ravenclaw's behind her who all split off together.
"What happened to the second years?" I ask as she steps up, looking flustered.
"They wanted to stay in and study, the third years over heard me though and decided to join, they've created their own group."
"All right, we're trying to come up with a plan, so as not to get defeated miserably out there, we have just under ten minutes to prepare." Gregor fills her in, I rack my brains, looking around at the overly crowded grounds, trying in vain to come up with a good idea that will not get us knocked out in seconds. I notice the multi group over by the doors glancing over at us.
"Guys," I say slowly, keeping an eye on the group, "I think we might be high targets,"
"Why?" Adam asks, sounding affronted.
"Because we are a group of first years, and there for easy pickings." Daphne answers, "We need to get cover, and soon."
"How about the Womping Willow?" Katherine asks, I turn, seeing the tree looking scarily innocent in the middle of the grounds.
"How is going next to the tree that wants to kill us a good idea?" Pansy voices, looking pale.
"Because no one will want to go over there, we can surround the tree, have vantage points from all directions." Katherine answers steadily. I shrug, we don't seem to be coming up with any other ideas, and that's the only ;legit one we have right now, by the looks of the others, I assume they agree and, as one, we head over to the tree, keeping our wands out as we look for any groups around us.
Arriving at the tree, I turn around to see the mixed group had followed us.
"Guys, group at my two o'clock, they're going to go for us first."
"So we take them out." Gregor, from my immediate right states, "They are, what? Third years?"
"Yeah, either that or fourth years, I recognise the Slytherin on the left, my parents know his parents." Pansy agrees from my left.
"Anyone behind look especially interested in us?" I call out, we are each about two metres from each other, ensuring we are far enough from the tree so as not to get attacked from it, but also close enough to help each other if needed.
"No, there is a group of Gryffindor's eyeing a group of Slytherin's though, I think they'll be occupied enough for a while." Adam answers, I nod my head in acceptance, despite knowing he can't see me.
In the distance, a resounding bang is heard.
The game has begun.
As I had expected, the mixed group immediately charge us, for being older and supposedly wiser, they don't appear to have a good strategy other than charge and fire.
Gregor, Pansy, Millicent, Katherine and I reply in kind.
"Impedimenta," I call out, aiming at the Hufflepuff, I miss by fractions, but the turquoise light is close enough to give her pause. I take advantage and fire again, hitting her successfully.
Before being able to celebrate, a curse from the Gryffindor almost hits me, I drop to my knees, firing off another curse at him in retaliation, he jumps to the side to avoid the light, knocking the Blonde Ravenclaw off his feet as they skid into one another.
Gregor's hit gets the Ravenclaw who freezes where he is lying. Pansy hits the Gryffindor. My first hit, the female Hufflepuff, has unfrozen and is aiming at me again, firing the jinx off repeatedly. I roll to the side, missing one, then leap back, too close to the tree.
Hearing the swishing behind me, I quickly leap forward, directly into a beam of Turquoise light.
Maybe Standing next to the tree wasn't such a good idea. The older students' spells being much stronger than what we can do, instead of being stuck in slow motion, I am frozen solid, watching the light show around me as I await my freedom. Someone from my left hits the Hufflepuff that got me, she goes into slow motion again, for the second time.
The second Slytherin and other two Ravenclaw's are faring much better, successfully dodging our spells and sending out chains of their own.
The first Slytherin unfreezes, seconds later, the Gryffindor he had been trying to push off him, also unfreezes, they hit back with vengeance.
I unfreeze in time to push Gregor out of the way of another spell, watching as the spell hits the tree behind us. I send out another spell, hitting the same Hufflepuff for the third time.
"Two more hits on the 'puff," I call out, whilst rolling out of the way of another spell, "And she's out." In reply, my friends' spells all focus on the just unfreezing Hufflepuff, who freezes again.
The others in her team, however, take advantage. I watch as both Gregor and Katherine are frozen.
"This isn't looking good," I call out as I hit the Hufflepuff for the final time. Through her slow movement, I can easily see her disappointment at being out, but, when she frees from the spell, she immediately turns and heads back to the tree where I can already see other students sitting, talking.
My distraction costs me and I am it again, this time by the Slytherin. Two strikes, and only one member of the other team are down. We are going to lose.
With that depressing thought, I feel myself able to move again and quickly dodge a third light. Next to me, Millicent is hit, falling over from her crouch as she freezes. I send another Impediment jinx out, hitting the Gryffindor on the hand, but the hit is enough and he switches to slow motion, behind the recently slowed down Gryffindor, The other Ravenclaw's have been frozen by twin hits by Gregor and Katherine.
The Slytherin', standing directly behind the Ravenclaw's quickly take advantage, getting Katherine, Gregor and Tracy in one sitting. I briefly wonder how the others are doing, but my distraction can't hold me for long as the two Ravenclaw's come back too, I notice the Gryffindor getting hit again as I dodge a spell from the Slytherins, aiming one of my own at one of the Ravenclaw's.
It misses, but catches the unsuspecting Slytherin instead. As I duck from another spell, Steph walks from behind the tree, heading straight over to the tree. We have lost one of our own.
I can't afford to dwell as I am almost hit by another spell from the recently unfrozen Slytherin. I watch as Katherine is hit again and send out a stream of spells, aiming wildly. My wild hitting is successful, the streams of light hitting both Ravenclaw's and the Gryffindor.
With only one Ravenclaw and two Slytherin's left standing, Gregor, Katherine, Pansy, Tracy, Millicent and I take advantage. Sending out the spells simultaneously. The three remaining are frozen.
"Keep hitting them," Gregor orders, don't let them get free,"
The Two Ravenclaw's and Gryffindor try and swerve out of the way as soon as they come back too, but with six of us firing, it's an easy win from there on out. We don't allow the other team the chance to recover. Successfully finishing the five needed hits to get them out of the game.
They all head over to the tree, taking the loss surprisingly well. Having defeated our side, we turn to the other side of the tree to see how Hannah, Megan, Adam and Daphne are faring.
Not too well we find out. The large group of Gryffindor's have successfully over run the Slytherin's and have turned to our friends, who are standing in a wide 'v' in an attempt to protect each other.
Ten Gryffindor's against ten of us. Seems fair.
"How are you coping? Who's all been hit?" Gregor asks as we join the V, firing off spells.
"I have one hit left," Hannah pants, dodging out of the way of another spell. 2They haven't managed to hit Adam or Tracy. I think Megan has been hit three times."
"Right, you and Megan get behind." I order, "Pansy hasn't been hit yet – IMPEDIMENTA!" I cut myself off, successfully hitting a small, Gryffindor who had almost caught me. "Gregor, Katherine and I have been hit twi-"Katherine gets hit, freezing in her almost crouched position. "Gregor and I have been hit twice," I repeat, "Katherine three times."
"We've hit each of them at least once," Daphne calls over, having been listening in, "That small one you hit, that was her third, I've caught her twice already."
"Adam, Daphne and Pansy," Millicent orders, dodging from a hit, "Aim for that girl. If we get one of them out, we can start to outnumber them."
"Everyone else, focus on a specific target," Adam continues, shooting off another spell. I dodge from a close one, diving to the side to avoid a second. I quickly return fire, getting a muscly guy on his leg.
"If you see someone frozen," Katherine adds, "Hit them immediately when they unfreeze."
I watch as the small girl is hit for a fourth time. Her teammates, noticing our focused fire, surround her, hiding her behind their bodies as they continue firing into our midst. Pansy, Katherine and Millicent are hit.
I push Hannah out of the way of a hit, sending one out, and catching the beefy guy again, just as a spell hits me. I fall to the grass, effectively bruising my chin as my frozen limbs are unable to protect me from the fall. The beefy guy unfreezes just before me and starts walking forward, glaring at me.
I got him! I realise, watching as the small girl is hit again, Gregor taking advantage of the gap the beefy guy made. She pouts and leaves.
They are now down eight to ten. My ability to move returns and, staying low, only moving my wand, I send a spell out between Adams legs, watching as the low flying spell hits another Gryff on the legs, the legs movements slow dramatically as I send another spell to another pair of legs.
Above me, Adam freezes, one foot hovering in the air. I continue my new strategy, watching as the first pair of legs I hit freeze again. Our strategy is working.
As Adam unfreezes, he dodges another spell which hits me in the back, causing my movements to freeze again. Damnit, that's four hits.
I watch helplessly as Hannah is hit again, for the fifth and final time. As she unfreezes, two more Gryffindor's walk forward, wands down. We lost one, but they lost another two. Nine verses five.
As I continue to send spells out, Katherine and Megan get hit again. Bringing both up to four hits along with me. I doge another, low spell, jumping out of the way, then leap to the side to avoid another, which hits Pansy instead.
Being three down, its six verses six until they unfreeze. Daphne seems to be making up for it by sending a near constant stream of turquoise out, successfully hitting three of the Gryffindor's. I send out a spell, sending a fourth one down. With two left standing, Adam and Daphne quickly dispose of them.
Upon unfreezing, we stick to the strategy that worked with the mixed group, not allowing them the chance to hit back. Soon enough, the Gryffindor's have lost.
We have won two rounds, lost two of our own and have three critically dangerous people.
We are not prepared for the sudden ambush by the Gryffindor Quidditch team who had been hiding out behind that group. I am quickly taken down by a twin casting, two spells hitting me at once. Beside me, Daphne is finally hit for the first time. The team have been watching and learning, however, as before I am able to think about moving to go join Steph and Hannah, I am hit again. Five times consecutively, I am hit, As well as my friends.
Within a minute of destroying the Gryffindor's we are destroyed by another set of Gryffindor's.
Finally being allowed to unfreeze, we troop back to the tree where a considerably larger amount of students are milling about, talking amongst themselves. As we reach them, The Gryffindor's we had just faced come up to us, hands out.
"Well done," The small Gryffindor says happily, "You did well, for a bunch of first years."
"Madame Pomfrey Is not going to enjoy this game, at all." The beefy guy continues, shaking my hand, his voice is low and rough. "Sorry about the chin, that looked painful."
"It's just a bruise," I shrug, "I've had worse."
"Never mind the bruises," He adds, "How are you lot still moving? You should be suffering some serious magical exhaustion after the amount of power that took."
An older Ravenclaw, lying on the ground near us, sits up and turns to us. "Agreed," She adds in, "That's how we got rid of the other first years so quick, The Impedimenta jinx is a fourth year spell, how you all managed to cast it non-stop near enough, as well as dodging, that's some powerful magic you have."
Magical Exhaustion? Huh? What is that? I feel exhausted, with all the jumping a dodging… what's magical exhaustion? Thankfully, Steph asks the question for me.
"Every Witch and Wizard has a set amount of magic in them, by training and practicing, you can extend the amount of magic you have, much like your stamina," The Ravenclaw answers matter-of-factly, "but if you use too much of your magical reserves, you can get what is called magical exhaustion."
"So, if we use too much at once," I summarize, "Then you become exhausted?" Both the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw nod in agreement. "Well how do you know if you are experiencing magical exhaustion? What's the difference between that and general exhaustion?"
"Magical exhaustion can cause the witch or wizard to be in a state of collapse and may cause them to stay unconscious for a day or so," The Ravenclaw answers readily, "but, although you are all tired, that's just strain, you are not nearly as exhausted as the other firsties." At this, she points to the tree, where I can see many of the students in our year collapsed against the tree, almost passed out, panting heavily.
Although I feel exhausted, I don't feel that bad. It could be something to do with being sent back to a younger body, but Daphne, Tracy, Pansy and Millicent don't look nearly as tired, and from what I saw, Daphne was casting a lot more frequently than we were.
Another large group of wizards wander over to the tree, looking disgruntled. By the size of the population, I take a guess it is the last remaining group, and, judging the triumphant grins from the emerging Gryffindor Quidditch team, I am right.
"Those cheating scumbags," The Ravenclaw growls, glaring at the cheering Gryffindor's making their way over, "They waited until a group was almost destroyed, then moved in, picking off whoever was left."
"I take it that's what happened to you?" I ask, laughing slightly at her glare.
"Yes, and to you lot, we saw them moving in as you were going for the Gryff's," She answers.
"Well, they did win fair and square," Gregor announces, "Even if they were using Slytherin methods to do so."
"What's that supposed to mean?" I immediately ask, narrowing my eyes at Gregor who just smirks.
"Looks like we have a fair winner," The Ravenclaw calls out, everyone turns to look at the approaching team, many glaring at them in hatred.
"And I'm happy to see, everyone played to the rules, who would be up for doing this again? Maybe with more advanced spell work?"
Many of the watchers nod and cheer they're approval, causing me to grin widely at the success.
Just as I was getting ready to applaud, a stern, Scottish, female voice travelled through the grounds, sounding non to happy.
"What is going on here?" We turn as one to see one very angry looking Professor McGonagall marching across the grounds. "Students fighting all around the school grounds? What is going on here?"
I am pushed forward by my friends, the Ravenclaw, who had been next to me, steps back, leaving me to deal with the angry Deputy Headmistress.
