A/N-Okay, I've been trying hard to squeeze in some time for writing...typing, and then...been thinking of ideas to get the gist of things. I've been ruffling through my old accounts, and found inspiration!
I don't own anything, as I have said before. Do I need to repeat it? Apparantely, I am.
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If there were words to describe how drastically Lily and Alex's friendship changed, everyone would take one look and wonder at how distant and stiff they had become to each other. Normally, they would be stuck at the hip, laughing their heads off at some joke one of them had come up with.
Nowadays, they would see Lily roaming around the school, surrounded by heaps of admirers, while Alex joined the Marauders, and when she was alone, was surrounded by equally, if not more, admirers than Lily.
There was a question in people's heads, at what had happened.
Surely this wasn't going to last long. Not when the two of them had been inseperable for years.
This routine went on for a few more weeks, when they started smiling and laughing with each other again. During the course of those dull weeks, Sirius and Alex had finally finished the motorcycle that they built for Muggle Studies.
At class, it was dubbed impressive by the teacher and it looked sleek and black, although rough and rugged at the same time. If they ever had the chance to use it, it would probably work as well as the othr motorcycle vehicles being sold in the muggle world. Secretly, Alex and Sirius bewtiched it to be able to fly. Just something that they thought of doing, just to make it more magical than muggle.
Slowly, the Castle was back to the ease that inhabited it whenever the girls were at peace with each other. Although nobody ever found out what happened between the two to make them evade each other so, this environment was preferable that no one dared to ask.
School continued eventfully. With the Marauders being so long gone with the trouble-making, mostly James and Sirius, they cracked many days and would go on rampage, which would entertain everyone, everyone except the Slytherins.
One particular lunch, after coming from her consultations, Lily walked in on an extremely wet Great Hall, with the floor slippery with water and everywhere else splattered in foamy bubbles. It bewildered her when Alex trotted toward her, her whole uniformed body covered in thin foam. Her face was masked with a gentle smile, eyes mellow, just like she was before. Lily missed seeing her this way, since the events of the start of the schoolyear stressed Alex so enirely that it brought out a new side to her.
"Want lunch?" she crooned to Lily, grabbing her hand and leading her to the slippery wet bench of the Gryffindor table.
"What did I miss?" Lily wondered, eyeing Alex's soapy self warily.
Alex shrugged, nibbling on the pasta her mother owled for her that hour, sealed magically. "When I came in, there were thousands of floating balloons and then, when there were a lot of people here for lunch, they finally dropped. Turns out it was filled with a mixture of the bathsoap from the Prefects bathroom and water."
"James and Sirius?" Lily guessed, sighing. She'd have to punish them if the teachers fail to do so before her.
"And the other two too! I think Remus gave them the idea, since he said the other day that the Great Hall was becoming too filthy, and then Peter said that it should be cleaned up. You know James and Sirius, interpreting it in other ways..."
"Funny," Lily said sarcasticaly, revolted at the bitter taste of the pork chops. There went her lunch.
"It was fun actually," she reminisced the five minutes ago. "Except for the parts when the other girls were shrieking in my ears because their hair was ruined." She sniggered.
"Have you finished the Translation of Murdock the Fearful? I've been working all night just to find out what the one with the wierd spike at the top of the figure in the second tablet meant."
"That rune?" Alex looked up at her in mystification. "That's the easiest. Means war."
Lily fumed at the failure of the books that she had researched on the night before. Because of that minor little missing piece of information, she had to start the whole translation again, since she had misinterpreted the word and all the other runes seemed out of place because of the missing piece.
The next following days had excitement in the air for the next Gryffindor match, against Slytherin too. Both teams were being violated and damaged at every chance by the opposing House. Alex was the only one blissfully unaware of the constant jinxes and spells which were directed at her male teammates. She would be the only girl on the Quidditch Pitch that Saturday, making her practically immune, and another factor which kept her safe was her undeniable gorgeousness that not even the Slytherin males could cast a feeble charm at.
But when it came to being out of danger from the rest if the Slytherins, meaning the girls, she was the main target on the Gryffindor team. Funnily, she never got hit by any danger, since one of her teammates would conveniently be in the vicinity, blocking the hex thrown at her.
James and Sirius were doing fairly well evading the spells and angry hisses at them. The only closest proximity to being harmed was when James was talking to one of his teammates, when he suddenly got the breath knocked out of him when a red beam of light came from behind him. His face hit the wall roughly, and he immediately got to his feet, aiming at the first person he saw holding their wand out.
Without another thought, he launched a Stunning spell at the person and the Slytherin crumpled to the ground.
End of threat. No one dared to come at him again.
Saturday rolled by fastly, before the teams could even realize anything. It was a cloudy day, the weather didn't know whether or not to pour any rain or remain sunless. For whatever decision, James was hoping that it would remain dry. Although they had better chances at winning if it was raining, he'd rather get this over with immdeiately, with Alex getting the Snitch within the next five minutes. James specifically instructed her not to take the Snitch after it's been released, so that they could put in a few more points to head them up the scoreboard.
She had not been known to feint during any matches, so James' strategy was to get her to feign seeing the Snitch massive of times, and then when she really does see the Snitch, the other Seeker's trust would be diminished and doubt whether or not she was playing tricks again or seeing the real thing. Obviously, when she would feign the seeing, the other team would be preoccupied with trying to find it as well and try avoiding her getting it.
He waited silently while everyone was getting ready in the locker rooms. Once they had their crimson robes draped over themsleves, the team huddled up around James, jittery from hearing the footsteps outside the tent. It was something exquisite to see the team so calm, almost melancholy. Normally, other teams would be scared and nervous out of their wits, but these Gryffindors were so sure of themsleves that they found anxiety to be a weakness.
The signal came to them to start heading out. James put his fist in the middle of the circle and they topped their hands on his.
"Gryffindor," James whispered and smiled.
"Gryffindor," they all murmured back.
When they were under the gray skies, James watched penisvely at the opposing team wearing green and silver. The referee ordered them to shake. James and the Slytherin captain crushed each other's hands in that brief shake. Truthfully, it did hurt, but James made no sign of weakness. There were no mistakes allowed, not even a hint of pain for motivation.
The first whistle. They mounted their brooms and by the second whistle came, when the balls were also released, no player was left on the ground. James grabed the Quaffle instantly, and flying halfway to the goal and then passing it to a teammate. His assist helped them score the first goal.
After five other goals into the ring, Alex feigned and zoomed away speedily, making a very good show that she saw the Snitch. Predictably, the Slytherin Seeker, who was Sirius' younger brother Regulus, followed in persuit, eyes flashing for a glint of gold. Alex continued her pace until she met one of the stands, the one where the Slytherins watched. Suddenly, she shot up, while Regulus continued in surprise and clashed with his fellows. The stand shook threateningly.
Behind him, James heard the distinct barklike laugh from Sirius. James grinned up at him.
"Nice one Alex!" he heard Sirius shout after her. She grinned back mischievously in response, and zoomed away again.
The game continued on with another six goals in. This was becoming a bit dull for James, and so he signalled for Alex to catch the Snitch. She had feigned for another two times in the past thirty minutes and was circling the Pitch in an attempt to show that she was looking for the Snitch, when in truth, she knew that it was fluttering near the Gryffindor goalposts.
She flew nonchalantly to where the Snitch was squirming around, still unaware of her persuit. No one noticed her either. She was planning to creep to it and catch it, but then it outsmarted her and started zooming to the other goal. She was forced to reveal her intentions to catch the Snitch and followed it quickly.
She felt Regulus hot on her tail, and she pressed her body to her broom until she was flat on it and it sped faster. Inches from it now, and she extended her hands. In one feeting second, her hands enveloped the little gold ball and she halted to a stop to show that she caught it.
James watched in triumph. Triumph immediately turned into horror as he witnessed, with so many others, a Bludger aimed at her by a Slytherin. The Bludger hurtled into her skull, giving out an audible crack throughout the whole Pitch. And she was headed toward the ground in the same second. Her fall looked slow and fast at the same time. She fell unconsciously, and yet gracefully. At the same time, she was a blur, too fast to see.
Instinctively, James and the rest of the team dove to rescue her from getting a worse injury than her cracked skull. Sirius was the one nearest her, and his face was contorted in a look of pain and fear.
His hand was stretched out to grab her waist. Inches from the ground, Sirius caught her and hoisted her across his lap, and she was cradled in his arms, with her head bleeding frighteningly. Her face was hardly distinguishable, for her blood was splattered across it in bright crimson. The crack was easily seen, a hideous line formed behind her head, revealing a bit of broken tissues.
Enraged, Sirius handed her over to James when they hit the ground, and he drew out his wand and started cursing and hexing every Slytherin in sight. The players of the other team fell to the ground, their bodies panting in exertion to breathe and catch their breath. Sirius stomped to where the Beater who hit Alex was, and grabbed the front of his robes roughly and pulled his fist back and let it fling itself into his face with all the strength that Sirius could muster.
After that, every single thrust and punch and kick that Sirius did was too violent to describe. The Slytherin lay on the ground, bleeding as much as Alex was, his left eye swelling unnaturally. Sirius spat at him and cursed at him for a last time, before turning back and hurrying to Alex.
"Black!" McGonagall said sharply, once she too got over the unexpected act that Sirius did. "That was--!"
"Punish me later!" he turned to her menacingly, looking like a deranged lunatic. "Alex first!"
Forgetting that he could do magic, he pulled her up into his arms and started sprinting off to the castle to get to the Hospital Wing.
James was alarmed by the alertness of his best friend and followed Lily when he saw her sprinting after Sirius at a determined gait. He caught up easily, able to speak.
"You all right?" he asked, panting and jogging.
"Me?" Lily asked incredulously, a stitch forming in her side already. "Alex is the one who should be of concern."
"Thought that you'd get diminished, seeing your friend throttled like that."
"I did, don't you notice?"
James turned his head and realized, for the first time, tear tracks on Lily's pretty face, pale and scared.
There wasn't much breath in them to keep talking, and so, they ran as fast as they could toward the Castle.
--
Lily stayed in the Hospital Wing for two days, and so did Sirius. With both of them there, James remained faithfully by their side, leaving only to get them food and drink, since they refused to get up from Alex's side. The teachers felt smypathy enough to leave them alone, and they stopped by the Hospital Wing daily to give the homeworks and lessons instead.
Alex still wasn't awake. Her entire head was wrapped in bandages, like a turban. Madame Pomfrey fixed her up, but the 'turban' had to be changed every six hours, since blood would ooze out continuously. Essence of dittany did good, but not enough to seep through her head to heal.
Another two days.
Lily was reading one of the requirements for Arithmancy. She saw, by the peripheral view of her eye, her friend shift in her bed. The first sign of movement in four days. Immediately, she got up and sat on the bed. Her eyes widened in anticipation. She felt Sirius kneel on the floor beside her.
"Anything?" he whispered, hoarse from not speaking in long periods of time.
They observed Alex for a few more minutes, but she made no other response.
Finally impatient, Lily brought her lips to where Alex's ear was supposed to be. "Hey, are you awake?"
There was a small groan that issued from Alex's pale lips. "Five more minutes..."
Sirius laughed relief. "Here I thought that she forgot who she was!"
Slowly, her eyes opened, though not much of a difference. Her eyes were still droopy and tired. Her lips parted, as if she wanted to utter something.
"Alex?" Sirius asked.
"Who's Alex?" was the reply.
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A/N-Wee! It was a chapter that I wanted to be suspenseful, for once in my life...it is very short compared to the others, but I hope you liked it anyway. Reviews and suggestions for a plot please! xoxo's.
