Dear Readers,
This note will be pinned to the first update for each of my stories (I plan to upload multiple chapters for each over the next few days). I'm alive, I'm okay, I'm writing. But between work, school and the new blog page I have up it's been hectic. I've also been doing more reading and more of my own writing so that's been taking up my time. Speaking of, if you'd like to follow along with the blog I'd love to have you all. You can find me at or on Instagram at abook(underscore)amonth. I'd love to share my joy about books with you all.
On that note, please enjoy these chapters as a sign of love and apology from your favourite old author.
Emily
Thank you to Rori Potter, MythStar Black Dragon, smkennedy007, littlelizruth, Darklight-Phoenix and punkyredhead for your wonderful reviews! This one is for you guys
Monday January 8th - Quidditch pitch
The first Quidditch practice back from break, as well as the first of the new year, was almost over. As we were still in the midst of winter, the sky was getting darker by the minute, so I was just waiting on Charlie to call it. Hermione was with the girls in the Gryffindor common room and the three of us were eager to get inside and out of the chill.
Today I was working with the Twins on dodging bludgers. We hadn't put a snitch into the mix yet because Charlie wanted me to focus purely on the flying – the way I weaved through the air and the way I would have to bend my body and the broom in tight situations. We were just taking a short break to catch our breaths before going back out when we heard a cry in the air. The entire team turned the heads to the source of the sound and watched in horror as we saw Milly, the fourth year chaser, fell through the air after colliding with a goal post on her way back to the middle of the pitch after retrieving the quaffle.
There was chaos as people screamed and moved all at once. Charlie, Oliver and Jason, one of the beaters, reacted almost immediately, moving towards her to try and catch her. Sadly, all of them got there too late to stop her completely, though Jason managed to get a hold on her wrist, only to let go when her weight proved too much for his fragile grasp. He had almost caught her when she was close to the ground, so the rest of her fall wasn't that long, but she still fell hard. Her form was slumped and unmoving as the rest of us rushed over.
"Milly! Milly!" Charlie cried out, kneeling by her side. "Fuck! Harry, fly into the castle and get Madam Pomfrey!"
Before I could hesitate too long, asking Charlie why me, he shouted at me to move it. "Quickly! I don't want to chance anything by moving her and you'll be the quickest in the air."
So I didn't say anything, hopping on my broom and immediately kicking off, flying like there was no tomorrow back to the castle. I only paused slightly when I got to the door, hovering in front of the handle so I could open it. But then I was off again, flying up staircases and through corridors ignoring the strange looks I was getting from everyone. I had started off trying to weave through people but then decided to avoid that altogether by just flying over everyone's heads.
Thankfully Madam Pomfrey's personal quarters were attached to the hospital wing so I didn't have to ask anyone to direct me on where to go. I paused again to open the doors and flew directly to the door at the back of the ward, the one that lead to her personal space.
I hopped off my broom and began knocking firmly. "Madam Pomfrey! Madam Pomfrey! We need you at the Quidditch pitch!" Before I could get through the rest of my planned tirade, the door opened and Madam Pomfrey was staring back at me, her eyes wide and her mouth set. She had removed her apron and hat and was now dressed casually for the evening.
"Mr Potter, what on Earth-" she began but I wasted no time, grabbing her hand and dragging her out the door.
"No time ma'am," I insisted. "A player has fallen off their broom and is injured. We didn't want to move her so I was sent to get you."
Her expression changed immediately as she stood taller. "Of course. Let me just get my wand and we will be on our way." She re-entered her room, coming back out shortly after.
"Shall we?" she asked, beginning to walk to the door of the hospital wing.
"With all due respect ma'am, walking will take too long," I said, holding out a hand to stop her.
"What do you suggest then, Mr Potter?" she asked, turning back to me.
Not four minutes later I was slowing down as I flew back to the pitch, Madam Pomfrey dismounting just behind me. "You really are a talented flyer Mr Potter," Madam Pomfrey said absentmindedly as she moved towards Milly's prone form. "Now everybody move, out of my way."
She knelt opposite Charlie and pulled her wand out of her pocket, immediately casting what I assumed were diagnostic spells. The team waited with baited breath to see the verdict. It wasn't long before Madam Pomfrey turned her head towards us, looking grim. "She's fine," she said first, letting us sigh in relief. "She's broken four bones and fractured or dislocated at least three more. One of those bones happen to be one of her ribs on her right side, which seems to have punctured her lung. I'm sorry Mr Weasley, but you'll be down a chaser for the rest of the year," she said, at this point looking at Charlie. He just nodded grimly.
"I understand Madam Pomfrey. Whatever Milly needs to return to full health. Do you need any help moving her?"
She just shook her head. She stood up, gesturing that he do the same, before waving her wand over Milly's limp form. Immediately her body rose as well, her limbs remaining in the same position they had been in when she was lying on the floor, and Madam Pomfrey nodded her head to the team as she turned to walk back to the castle, Milly floating along next to her.
"I guess that's it for tonight guys," Charlie said, frowning as he spoke with a flat tone. "Get some sleep and we'll talk about what we'll do to fill Milly's position at next week's training."
The team quickly disbursed, everyone seeming to be glad to be able to leave for the night, leaving Charlie, Fred, George and myself at the back of the group.
"How're you doing Charlie?" Fred asked, clearly uncomfortable but wanting to comfort his brother.
Charlie just shook his head. "I'm fine guys," he said bracingly, directly defying the frown on his face. "Just worried about Milly's recovery. Not to mention the fact that I'm going to need to find a new chaser."
"Did you have any reserves?" I asked him.
Charlie shook his head. "None that are chasers. We only have a keeper waiting in reserve this year and that's only because he was the only one that came remotely close to besting Wood. There wasn't anyone else that I thought I'd want to have on the team simply because their skill set wasn't on par with what we needed."
"What about if you used Harry?" Fred asked, causing my jaw to drop.
"What do you mean, use Harry?" Charlie asked.
"Yes, what do you mean 'use Harry'?" I reiterated, raising my eyebrow as I stared at my best friend. "Do go on."
"Honestly you lot are hopeless," Fred said, rolling his eyes. "Use Harry as a replacement Seeker."
Both Charlie and I blinked at the Twins, as George was nodding now also. "But they don't need a Seeker," I pointed out, as I felt like they had missed that vital point.
"But Charlie can fill the chaser position-"
"-we've seen him fly before and he'd have no trouble-"
"-and he also happens to have a ready-made seeker waiting in the wings," the Twins argued.
"But Harry isn't even a Gryffindor," Charlie said. "Be a bit hard to get permission McGonagall to just rent a student, don't you think?"
Fred shrugged. "Worth asking about though, isn't it?"
Charlie and I just stared blankly at each other. I bit my lip. Surely not.
Friday January 12th – Defence Against the Dark Arts
"I still don't think it's right that you're on the Gryffindor team Harry," Hermione said to me as we walked to class. I had just been pulled aside at lunch by McGonagall and informed that I had special dispensation to play with the Lions for the year, with future involvement in Quidditch to be assessed in the here-after. I had just told the others about it and there were mixed reactions.
"And why not?" George demanded. "Harry's a bloody good seeker if you hadn't noticed G."
"And I'm not disagreeing with that fact," Hermione replied. "I'm quite aware of the fact that Harry is the youngest seeker in the last century and all that that entails about the level of skill he possesses. But you can't deny that you're playing for a rival house."
"You can't tell me that this is about inter-house rivalry," Fred said. "You, the harbinger of house dismemberment-"
"-nice word play-" I interjected, snorting.
"-thank you. But back to my point, you can't honestly tell us that you're worried about Gryffindor scoring house points as a result of Harry's Quidditch success."
Hermione shrugged. "It's not just that either," she argued back. "It's the fact that other houses might not like it much that Harry isn't playing for them."
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"Don't you think the other three houses might be just a little annoyed that Gryffindor gets special treatment?"
"Slytherin never would've taken him-"
"-and Hufflepuff have got a pretty good seeker-"
"-who they won't get rid of, not in his seventh year," the Twins said.
"Ravenclaw would be a miss, too," I said as I saw Hermione open her mouth. "They have this third year playing for them that's apparently never lost a match."
Hermione's mouth twisted down at the corners briefly, before she shrugged. "If you guys say so. I just don't want you all, or Charlie and his team mates for that matter, to feel negative repercussions from this."
"We won't," I said, smiling at my friend as I gave her shoulder a squeeze. "Thank you for caring Mione."
She touched my hand briefly as she returned my smile, before our attention was pulled to the front of the room as Moony entered. "Good afternoon everyone, good afternoon," he said, smiling as he placed his things on the desk. "My apologies for the tardiness, I was just coming back from a head of house meeting. Now, today we will be working on the fumos spell. Has anyone heard of it?"
A few hands went up around the room and Remus nodded. "Well fumos is a spell that, for those that don't know, is used to create a defensive cloud of smoke from the tip of your wand. Now this can be used to distract an opponent or even hide what you're doing so that you may build up to a greater offensive move. Can anyone give me the correct wand movement for this spell?"
Hermione's hand shot into the air, answering when she was called upon. "It's a spiral movement, Professor. We have to start at the center and then move clockwise until we make a full rotation."
"Excellent, Ms Granger, five points to Emrys," Remus said warmly. "Now if everyone could partner up, we'll start workshopping the spell straight away. If both you and your partner can manage to successfully complete your spell, you will not have to turn in four inches on the history of and uses for this spell. Alright, get to it!"
We all broke off into pairs, the Twins and Hermione and I together. Hermione and I were able to conjure some form of smokescreen about twenty minutes into our practice when we agreed to take a breather, observing those around us. More than half of our classmates still hadn't achieved success but the Twins seemed to be very close. I watched them for a moment before I walked over.
"You guys have nearly got it," I told them. "I can feel the strength of the magic behind your spells, your actions just need to be more precise."
"Perhaps you can try this," Hermione suggested, taking hold of George's wand hand in her own.
"Rather than making a wider spiral, like this," here she moved George's hand in her own, showing us what she meant. "Make the action smaller, more controlled, so that your magic is more focused."
After demonstrating again with Fred's hand, we stood back and watched as our friends tried the spell and completed it successfully.
"Excellent work you four," Remus said suddenly from behind us. "Take another five points for superb instruction of fellow students." Remus moved on to another pair as the four of us returned to our normal practicing. By the end of the session, only three other students outside our group had managed to achieve the spell and escape the homework.
"Well, at least now I don't have homework to worry about," I said. "I can focus solely on this Quidditch game next week."
Sunday January 20th - Quidditch pitch
Evidently not having homework had not helped all that much. It wasn't that I was terrible, I knew I was a more than decent flyer. But unexpectedly having to adapt to the team, as well as the team having to adopt me and my instincts into their plays and structures, was never going to be easy for anyone.
"Harry, duck!" Oliver called out and I did so without thinking, hearing what could only be a bludger fly over my head. When I lifted my head I saw one of the guys tear off after it before it could do any damage to any of our players and I nodded gratefully to Oliver before returning to look for the snitch. We had been playing for an hour and a half now and I wasn't going to lie – I was starting to feel tired. I mean, flying in lessons or training had never been a problem. But I'd never flown for this long at such a high intensity before and it was taking my body a while to adapt.
I smiled slightly when I saw Remus sitting with Fred, George and Hermione in the stands, cheering as Charlie scored his fourth point for the day.
"That's Captain Weasley's fourth for the day folks, because the man can't help but succeed at everything. The fact that he's my mate has no effect on that declaration either," the commentator called out, a cheerful young woman who had the brightest pink hair I'd ever seen.
"Ms Tonks, please refrain from bring your personal life into the arena," Professor McGonagall scolded the girl, who just grinned mischievously and turned back to the game.
"Right you are Professor! But hang on, there's no time for kissing arse because it looks like the Slytherin seeker has caught sight of the snitch!" this prompted gasps from the crowd as I looked immediately at the Slytherin seeker, who was diving towards something. As I flew towards him, I also caught sight of the little gold snitch, immediately laying myself flat on my broom to go as fast as I possibly could.
I flew near the other Seeker, both of us diving for all that we were worth as we tried desperately to get to the snitch before our opponent. As we became level with the top of the spectator towers I realized that, unless I dove off my broom, the Slytherin seeker would reach the snitch before I would. So, with the idea of an almost inevitable loss in my mind, I decided to try a new plan of attack.
Rather than continuing to dive at the angle I was, I adjusted my descent into a sharper decline. I was now moving faster than the other Seeker, but I was also moving away from the snitch. Just as the Slytherin seeker held out his arm in earnest to catch the golden ball, however, I abruptly twister my broom up ninety degrees, so I was flying straight across the pitch but at a much lower level then my opponent. This brought me right where I had hoped, facing the snitch head on. Lowering my body to my broom I burst forward and swiped towards the golden snitch with a desperate hope, automatically rolling away from a collision with an incoming Slytherin player.
I couldn't register for a moment that the game had ended but then my mind took note of the weight in my hand and I realized I had done it; I had caught the snitch. I stared in amazement at my hand, then up at the cheering crowd.
The cheering crowd, that is, of Slytherins.
I looked at the team, all of whom were flying off the field a little lackluster. Ignoring all the commentary and cheers (or jeers), I flew towards the tunnel near our change rooms where I could see Charlie waiting for me with a grim smile on his face.
"What'd I do wrong Charlie?" I asked, concerned that I had let the team down.
"Nothing at all mate," Charlie said, clapping his hand on my shoulder as we walked through the tunnel together. "But I definitely think we'll need to have a talk about knowing when to distract and when to take the catch."