"Oh my God." Clara said in shock. Ursula stood behind her, her jaw grazing the ground looking at their trashed locker room. Their gear was destroyed, the lockers smashed in, and graffiti decorated the walls. Today was the game for the Quidditch Cup, Ravenclaw versus Gryffindor, and it appeared that someone didn't want the Gryffindors to win.
Clara turned around and brushed past Ursula. "I'm going to get McGonagall."
That left Ursula to stare the ruined remains of her and Clara's locker room. The words written in blue paint made her want to hex the first Ravenclaw she saw. Mudblood was splattered over Clara's half of the room while Blood Traitor was painted over her half. Ursula walked forward and let her fingers trace over the word that haunted her. It was actually paint; something that surprised Ursula. The roughness was
"What the—"
The male voice caused Ursula to jump. Standing in the doorway were the guys on the team. James stepped into the normally forbidden room. He looked around and whistled, "Godric, I thought girls were supposed to be the clean ones."
"Not everyone is as organized as you," Ursula said sarcastically as she started shifting through the debris to look for the gear she left in her locker. Thankfully, Clara and she took their brooms up to the rooms last night.
James was about to respond but Jacob's angry voice silenced him, "Shut up you two! This isn't some comedy show; OUR LOCKER ROOM WAS VANDALIZED!"
"Merlin, Jake, there isn't much we can do now; it happened," James said.
Jacob sighed and furiously rubbed his face. After a moment of regaining his composure he froze and he looked at Ursula with terrified eyes. "Please tell me your brooms weren't in here," he begged.
Ursula shook her head, "Clara and I brought them to our dorms after last practice. They're fine."
The Captain practically sagged with relief. "So there's some hope…"
"What has happened here?!" McGonagall exclaimed when she saw the state of her house's girls' locker room. Her eyes widened behind her glasses when she read the words on the walls and saw the broken benches and the mess of metal lockers that were thrown to the floor.
"I think it kind of speaks for itself, Minnie," James said.
She gave him a stern look but didn't comment on his cheek. She instead turned her attention to the two girls. "Is there anything that is destroyed?"
Clara shook her head for her stuff but Ursula nodded. She pointed to a pile of melted black metal. "Those are my arm guards."
McGonagall shook her head, "I cannot permit you to play without the proper equipment. Since this is such an obvious case of vandalism, I will speak to Professor Flitwick to reschedule the game after the proper punishments are doled out."
She turned on her heals and was about to leave the dejected team behind when James's face suddenly lit, an expression Ursula was quite familiar with. Excited, he ran his hand through his hair, "Stop! I have an idea."
McGonagall paused and turned to look at the Transfiguration prodigy. "What is your idea, Mr. Potter?"
James's smile spread across the face, the right side of his lips pulling up a little farther. Instantly, Ursula started to feel adrenaline running through her veins as a similar smile formed on her face. They shared a conspiratorial look with each other before turning to their Head of House at the same time.
In the stands of the Quidditch Pitch above them, their friends had no idea the problems that plagued their housemates.
"So where are we sitting?" Peter asked, huffing slightly after climbing all the stairs.
Ben scanned the Gryffindor stands and tried to see where there were enough seats to fit their large group. Just then, Alice jumped up on her seat and started waving her arms at them and pointing to five empty seats in front of her, Lily, and Marlene. Chuckling to himself at her enthusiasm, Ben pointed towards the girl, "That's where."
With some degree of difficulty, they carried the large sign supporting Ursula and James. Marlene pulled Elyse up a row, leaving the four boys directly in front of them. Just as they took their seats, the teams were announced and they flew around the pitch once as a warm up. All the Gryffindors jumped to their feet and cheered as their team flew by. James blew a kiss at Lily as he flew by, much to the displeasure of the red head.
As the teams landed on the ground to start the game, Sirius turned around with a smirk. "Hey Evans, here to give James a victory kiss?"
Lily glared at Sirius, "No, Black. I'm here for Ursula. I could care less about Potter."
"James'll be crushed."
"How unfortunate." From the tone in her voice, it was clear Lily found that anything but unfortunate.
A shrill whistle broke their attention. Jacob shook hands with the Ravenclaw captain, some bloke named Chang, their grip tense. Remus found that odd, "Guys, aren't they friends? Why do they look like they want to kill each other?"
His statement wasn't false. If looks could kill, Jacob would be on his way to Azkaban at this point. Chang looked furious at something and kept on sending dirty looks at the other two chasers, both of who were just amicably smiling back.
"That's because the Claws sabotaged your team," the familiar female voice made all eight Gryffindors jump. Standing behind them and partially in the aisle was Annabelle, the Prewitt twins, Frank Longbottom, and Benjy Fenwick.
Ben jumped up with a smile and hugged his sister. "What are you doing here?" He questioned her incredulously.
She just smiled secretively, "I heard that Gryffindor made it to the finals again this year and I wanted to see my house win the Cup since that lug over there lost it last year," Annabelle said, pointing at Frank, who was settling himself in the chair next to Alice. At this point, Alice was a brilliant red and she was slouching in her seat. Frank either didn't notice or decided to ignore her embarrassment as he shrugged and flung his arms around the backs of the chairs on each side of him.
"If I would have had one more year to build the team I would have the Cup already in my hand."
Annabelle rolled her eyes as she sat down next to Ben, the other three boys following their friends' example and sitting around them. There wasn't much more of an opportunity to talk as Hooch blew the whistle and tossed the Quaffle into the air and released the snitches and set the bludgers free. The entire team soared into the air, Ursula grabbing hold of the Quaffle and soaring towards the Ravenclaw hoops.
She ducked a bludger and tossed the ball to James, who swerved around one of the opposing beaters before throwing it behind his head and dropping several feet in height. Jacob came out of nowhere and grabbed the ball and threw the ball into the left hoop; the keeper never had a chance. The Gryffindor and Hufflepuff stands shouted victoriously as Gryffindor got the first ten points of the game.
Ursula and James high fived each other quickly before they soared towards the Ravenclaw with the Quaffle. Something caught Sirius's eye, well more accurately, something didn't.
"Where's Sissy's other arm guard?" He asked out loud, wondering if he was just missing it in the sunlight.
Annabelle nodded, "That is what Minerva was telling me about. Some Ravenclaws broke into the girls' locker rooms and destroyed the place. Both of Black's guards were destroyed."
"So how does she have one?" Ben asked.
She smirked, "Potter gave her one of his. Minerva threw a fit and wanted to reschedule the game after the culprits were caught but Ursula refused, saying something about that would be letting them win. So James offered her one of his."
Looking closely, they saw James's unprotected left arm as he speed past them with the Quaffle tucked under the other arm.
"He's risking his safety for her?" Lily asked shocked, awe coloring her words.
Frank nodded, speaking with his mouth full of some muggle treat he smuggled in. "It was his idea." He added.
Lily looked surprised, like someone had told her the Earth was square. She fell back against the seat, trying to figure out why James had done that. She had never known James to do something that would put himself in danger for someone else. He was just a bully. A big, rude, obnoxious, toe-rag, of a bully. But bullies didn't look out for other people…
An elbow to the ribs made Ben jump a little. Annabelle ducked her head low and whispered, "You might have some competition for your girlfriend, Benny-Boy."
Ben's ears turned bright red, "She's not my girlfriend." He grumbled; his heart thudding painfully as he wished that it was true.
"WHOOOO! GO SISSY!" Sirius screamed as she took off towards the goal. The Quaffle flew perfectly into the goal. They all jumped to their feet and cheered at her goal. As she flew past them, she winked and saluted before zooming off, laughter left behind in the wind.
The game was going phenomenally with Gryffindor in the lead. Then the absolute worst thing that could happen happened.
A bludger that had gone unattended ascended upward, unnoticed by Liam and Cormac until it was too late. Clara, who was searching over her left shoulder for the snitch didn't move her head in time when she heard the warning yell and the crack of it hitting her skull resonated throughout the entire stadium. She slumped forward on her broom, blood pouring down the side of her head. She leaned one way and then she was tumbling through the air. Terrified gasps and screams echoed through the entire stadium. Luckily, Liam was there and he caught her before she fell too far.
At that moment, the other bludger flew perfectly straight through the air and just skimmed the side of Ursula's head. There would be a nasty bruise and a small cut but that wasn't the worst thing; the bludger destroyed her glasses. She swayed on her broom and almost fell off if it hadn't been for James rushing to her and steadying her.
"Ursula! Are you okay?" He shouted over the noise of the stadium.
She shook her head, "I can't see!"
In the blurry face she could see, she saw his eyes widen in horror. The pressure on her shoulder increased, "Jake called a time out. I'll help you."
Together, they lowered their broom and James guided her towards the congregation of the team. Ursula could only see a vague red blob that was huddling around each other.
"Is Clara okay?" Were the first words out of her mouth.
Though she couldn't see any distinctive features, she knew Jacob's voice after hearing him scream drills at her for months, "No. She's out cold. They took her up to the hospital wing, Pomfrey said it looked like they cracked her skull open."
"So we're down a seeker," James said deadpanned.
Jacob started pacing back and forth, "And we might as well count the keeper since Sean is worrying about Clara."
"And a chaser." Ursula said.
The figure that was moving froze and he turned to look at her, "What do you mean?"
She sighed, "When Clara got hit with that Bludger, I got hit by another and it destroyed my glasses; I can't even see your face right now and you're what? Five feet away from me?"
"DAMN IT! THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE OURS!" Jacob shouted at no one in particular. He kicked the ground, wondering how today could get any worse. He grabbed Ursula by the shoulders, "Is there any way we can fix your glasses. We need to keep our lead before their seeker catches the snitch."
She was about the respond when Hooch called an end to the time out and all the team members quickly got onto their brooms and flew up in the air. The stadium noticed Clara's disappearance and boos and jeers directed at the Ravenclaws deafened the stadium.
"Oh me God," Elyse said in shock when she caught a good look at Ursula.
"What is it?" Peter asked her.
She pointed at Ursula who was flying not much slower than she had been earlier, "She doesn't have her glasses."
All of the third years' eyes widened when they realized the implications of that. The older graduates look at them oddly.
"What's so bad about the glasses? I don't remember her having glasses," Fabian commented.
Benjy was the one that surprisingly answered, "She had the Thestral eyes at the end of last year, right?"
When Sirius nodded solemnly, the adults swore. Annabelle shook her head slowly in shock, "She can't see a bloody thing, can she?"
Ben shook his head, "Probably not." He commented as the Quaffle flew right past her face and she didn't grab it, allowing a Ravenclaw to catch it. The game continued in that fashion. Ursula was basically out of the game and Sean was letting in more goals than he had in the last five years combined. But James and Jacob weren't going down without a fight.
"Your friend's a phenomenal chaser," Gideon commented over the roar of the crowd as James scored again.
Peter nodded enthusiastically, "He's the best!"
Sirius chuckled and patted Peter on the shoulder, "We know he is Wormtail."
"You know," Remus said, "None of you have yet to explain those ridiculous names."
They were saved from answering once again when it was announced that the Ravenclaw seeker saw the snitch. James, who had the Quaffle under his arm at that point and saw that they were 140 points ahead of Ravenclaw. His eyes widened as he zoomed at an unsafe speed towards the goals to try to get the last goal before the seeker caught the snitch so they could at least tie. Adrenaline coursed through his veins and the wind whipped his face painfully. He was getting closer, just a little bit farther…
A sudden blow to his right side sent him tumbling into the Hufflepuff Tower. Shock was the first thing that registered with him. Distantly he heard the roar of the wrong half of the crowd, letting him know that he failed. It was barely a second before he felt the pain in his left shoulder. He slowly lowered himself to the ground on his broom, his right arm guiding the broom. The second his feet hit the ground, he tumbled down and quickly reached up with his right hand to assess the damage on his shoulder
A jolt of staggering pain shot down his arm. He grunted in pain and hit his head against the wall of the pitch. He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to block out the pain.
"James!" He opened his eyes and looked at the group of Gryffindors running towards him. Peter stopped a few paces away and looked like he was about to throw up right in the middle of the pitch. Remus's color faded and he looked squeamish but came forward until he was close to James. Sirius got to him first and knelt down next to his best friend. His grey eyes were full of worry. "Are you alright?" His eyes frantically looked between James's face and the injured shoulder with
James shrugged, wincing painfully as it pulled at his shoulder. "Do I look okay Padfoot?"
"Take a look yourself!" Sirius said gesturing towards his shoulder. Ignoring the pain that was spreading up his neck, he turned carefully and froze for a millisecond. His shoulder was a bloody mess, wood splinters sticking out of the rest of his arm, and there was a bit of white peeping out. Somewhere in the back of his mind he realized that it was one of his bones but it didn't seem real.
"Why would you look at that," James said in astonishment. He reached up with his right hand to touch it but Remus's hand shot out to hold his hand back.
"How do you feel?" Remus asked worriedly, searching for any signs of a mortal wound on James's body.
James smirked lazily, the blood loss making him a little dizzy, "Skinny."
His two friends (Peter was still too scared to come closer) shared a panicked look. "What? Did you hit your head?" Remus asked, starting to think that James might have hit his head and now had a concussion.
"I'm all skin and bones; skinny. Get it?"
Sirius rolled his eyes at the pathetic attempt at humor but appreciated it none the less. "Of all the bone related humor you go for skinny? He just smirked good naturedly, relief evident on his face. He held his hand down for James to grab, "Better than you usually do."
James ignored the jab at his sense of humor, "Where's Ursula?" James asked as Sirius carefully pulled him up.
"Ben went with her to get the remains of her glasses." Remus explained.
He nodded and winced when the neck muscle pulled at the injury. Sirius pulled him along towards the exit doors, "Come on, Skinny. Time to get some good ol' Skello-grow."
It was just outside the pitch where Lily and the rest of her roommates were heading back to the castle. Their heads hung low and they looked thoroughly defeated after their house, who were expected to easily win, lost.
"Lily!" A voice carried over the crowd.
All three girls stopped and turned to look for the voice. A tall, greasy black haired boy was pushing his way through the crowd to get to them. The look on Lily's face brightened a little while her friends' soured. The looks on their faces were of clear disgust and annoyance; they didn't like Severus Snape in the very least. Yet he was one of their closest friend's friend so they tolerated him. But after that defeat and the fact he was obviously supporting Ravenclaw, neither Alice nor Marlene wanted to deal with the boy.
"Sev!" Lily greeted the boy with a hug when he got to them.
He smiled at her, "What did you think of the game? Brilliant, wasn't it?"
"Brilliant isn't the word I would use," Marlene said while glaring at Snape.
Snape's smile faded and he sneered at her, "I wasn't asking you, McKinnon."
Marlene dug into her pocket for her wand, ready to hex the Slytherin, but Alice grabbed her arm. Lily put a hand on Severus's chest and pushed him back a foot, "Sev, it's alright."
"Yeah, Sev, it's alright. Go play with your Dark Arts and leave us the hell alone," Marlene snapped before she spun on her heels and stormed back up to the castle, Alice right behind her.
Lily looked at the retreating backs of her friends before she turned back to Snape. "Do you want to go sit by the lake?"
He nodded and slowly the sneer slipped off of his face and he followed Lily towards the Black Lake. Lily went straight to the edge and after taking off her shoes and socks, she let her feet dangle off the edge and into the water. Severus sat next to her but kept his feet out of the water. Lily leaned back and looked up at the clouds.
"This reminds me of home," Lily said softly, breaking the silence that had befallen the two friends.
Snape nodded, "That it does." He said with sadness marring his words.
Lily propped herself up with her left elbow, "You know, if you ever want to leave, I'm sure that once we explain the situation to my mother and father, they would be more than happy to let you stay with us."
"No," he said assertively. "I don't want charity."
She shook her head, "This isn't charity! I offered the same thing to Ursula, and by extension, her brother."
Snape looked at her as if she had committed the ultimate betrayal. "Black! You offered your home to those bloody twins!?"
Lily sat up and looked at him crossly, "Yes I did. Ursula is my friend and her family isn't a bunch of roses."
"And Petunia is?" Snape spat back before he really thought it through. He wanted to smack himself the second the words slipped through his lips.
Lily gasped and looked at him affronted, "How dare you!" She pulled her feet out of the water and quickly put on her socks and shoes. "You know, I've defended you when Potter and the rest of his friends are mean to you and talk behind your back. Even my roommates don't like our friendship because you're a Slytherin but I always tell them that you're different from them but you're just as bad as they are!"
She was about to stand up but Snape gently grabbed her wrist, "Please don't go," he begged. She looked conflicted as he looked into her eyes. Finally, to his great relief, she settled back down on the ground next to him.
"I'm sorry," he apologized.
Lily nodded slowly and looked down at the hand that was still wrapped around his wrist. "You've changed, Sev. Ever since you started hanging around with Macnair and Mulciber, you've become someone I don't recognize anymore. I mean, Ursula and Elyse told me about what you did to James in the hallway—"
"Potter is a prat that needs to learn his place," Snape snapped.
Lily shook her head and put her hand on his shoulder, "No matter how much of a prick Potter is, you could have killed him. And being honest, after his performance today some of his ego is deserved, at least, where Quidditch is concerned."
Severus looked horrified at his childhood friend. "Don't tell me you like Potter now."
"Pfst, I still think Potter is a stupid, egotistical, prat but he doesn't deserve to die, Sev."
Snape nodded absent mindedly, not hearing anything she said after she said that she didn't like Potter. He smiled at her and the two continued to sit next to the lake, watching the sun set over the lake.
Later that night, the Gryffindor Common room was somber. The only noise came from a pair of seventh years playing a game of wizard's chess and the fire crackling. A group of oddly silent teenagers sat by the fire, all of them lost in their own thoughts. The picture was not complete, however. Four members of their group had still not returned from the pitch after close to four hours.
Remus was absent mindedly doodling on a piece of parchment as he thought about the full moon approaching in only a few days. He was already feeling the side effects of the curse he didn't ask for.
Peter would go from nervously picking his nails to checking the portrait door. His mind would jump from Ursula to his mother, then combining those people as he fantasized about introducing Ursula to his mother as his girlfriend. Oh, his mother would adore her; he just knew it. But the treacherous part of his mind taunted him, 'Why on Earth would that angel of a girl, want a stupid boy like you?'
All Elyse could think about was the visions that haunted her sleep. Ever since the voice-vision of the sister's death, vivid deaths haunted her sleep. Every night she would wake up, screaming because of the visions. Her grades were suffering and she swore she saw a sympathetic and understanding look in McGonagall's eyes. She needed to get help- her brain couldn't handle the knowledge and she couldn't function on only a few hours of sleep.
Yawning loudly, she stood up and said, "I'm exhausted. I'm heading to bed." She nodded to the boys and disappeared up the girls' stairs.
Standing up, Remus and Peter followed Elyse's example and turned in early for bed. It was just twenty minutes later when James and Sirius walked through the portrait hole. Sirius was smiling manically and James looked quite pleased with himself. Though his arm was in a sling, threw himself into his favorite arm chair and curled up next to the fire.
"Pranking does the heart good, doesn't it Padfoot?" James asked.
Sirius laughed as he sat down on the couch, "I don't think that Parker's going to deflate for days!"
"All in a day's work," James said, satisfied. The smile faltered on his face for a moment as he accidentally pulled on his bad shoulder. Sirius didn't notice as he looked around the Common Room.
"Merlin, where's everyone?"
James shrugged, "Probably in bed.
The other boy nodded in approval. "I am beat. Want to head up to the dorm?"
James shook his head, "Nah, I think I'll just stay down here for a bit. Clear my head."
Sirius stood and nodded. As he passed by James he put his hand on good shoulder, "No one blames you for the loss. And don't worry; those Claws won't know what hit 'em when we find out who sabotaged the team."
"Yeah, yeah," James said as Sirius turned and walked up the dorm stairs.
The Common Room was completely silent except for the soft cracking of the fire. James couldn't help but think that the room should have been filled with all of his housemates with the Quidditch Cup proudly displayed on the mantel place. They had been so close to winning. Ten points. They lost by ten points, points that James had almost scored but had failed…
"I heard about your shoulder. How do you feel?"
James jumped and looked away from the fire to see Ursula standing in the sitting area. She moved to sit down on the sofa while he answered. "Disappointed."
Ursula simply nodded, sharing his sentiment exactly. The pair sat in silence for about five minutes, lost in their own thoughts. Then Ursula broke the silence, "I am sorry."
"For what?" James asked as he pushed his glasses farther up on his nose. He was the one that didn't make the last goal- what was she sorry for?
She just shrugged nonchalantly, "If I had had my glasses then I could have helped win the game but I was just a distraction."
James was silent a moment before he started laughing softly. Eventually he was all out laughing, ignoring the pain in his shoulder. Ursula looked at him like he had lost his mind, "What's wrong with you, Potter?"
He reached under his glasses and wiped the tears from his eyes, "I was just thinking about when you ran in to that chaser; human bludger you were!"
Ursula remembered that moment and she couldn't help but smile at the memory, "You know how we always tease Hector that his hair looks like mustard? Well, he smells like it too. Not the most pleasant thing to fly into."
"I don't know how you could have missed his hair! It's so bloody ugly," James joked.
She shook her head solemnly, "I don't know."
At that moment, a cool breeze came through the open window, causing her to shiver. James's brow furrowed, "Cold?" He asked her. She nodded but just waved it off. He shook his head and scooted over on the oversized, plush chair. "Come over here." He ordered.
Craving warmth, Ursula got up and joined James. He wrapped his right arm around her shoulder and pulled her close to him to share more body heat with her. She pulled her feet under her and leaned her head against James's good shoulder.
"You know, we need to start working on that potion for the animagus transformations. We basically have the verbal transfiguration down on each other, though Pete could use some more help, but if we want to get this in about a year, we need to start brewing the first potion to take over the summer." Ursula pointed out after a moment of silence.
She couldn't see, but she could feel James nod his head, "Ben said that we just need to wait for one more ingredient and then we can start. Speaking of him, where is that red headed pain?"
"He is spending some time with his sister before she has to leave. They haven't seen each other since Christmas."
"That's nice," James said while yawning.
Ursula didn't have the energy to keep talking so she just nodded. Her eyelids felt like they had heavy weights on them and after multiple failed attempts to keep them open, she succumbed to sleep. James, unable to move her because of his arm and because the chair was so comfortable, decided that the chair was an acceptable place to sleep. He took off his glasses and gently took off Ursula's and placed both sets on the corner table before he wrapped his arm a little tighter around Ursula. His eyelids began drooping and soon, he found himself joining Ursula in the land of dreams.
About twenty minutes later, Ben walked through the portrait hole. He was exhausted but happy after just seeing his sister for the first time in months. He never realized how much he missed her during the school year. In the dying light of the fire, he navigated his way through the Common Room and was about to go up to the dorm when a soft snore caught his attention.
In the dim light, he could see the shadow of a pair cuddling on one of the arm chairs. Smirking at the blackmail he was sure to get, he tiptoed over but froze when he saw his best friend snuggled up closely with the girl he fancied. The smirk slipped off his face a look of betrayal spread over his face. Ursula's nose twitched and she muttered something. James grumbled and pushed away from her slightly but her arms wrapped around him tightened. She mumbled something again and this time, Ben could kind of understand she was actually saying something.
Curiosity getting the best of him, he leaned closer and waited for Ursula to sleep talk again. He didn't have to wait long. She moved again in her sleep and clearly mumbled, "Ben." Ursula snuggled closer to James.
Ben couldn't help but smirk, she was dreaming about him.
Take that James.
I'm back! I hope that you like the little bit of Snape and Lily I threw in there. It's kind of foreboding, in a sense. I feel like I'm writing the beginning of the end. And I know some of you are probably thinking that the scene with James at Ursula at the end is a bit romantic, but I'm looking at it as more of an affectionate brother/best friend type of thing. Don't worry all those James/Lily and Ben/Ursula supporters out there; it will happen...just not now. Patience! As I promised from the very beginning, a lot of things are going to be making a lot of sense and there are going to be a lot of connections that can be made. Just a little bit longer and it will all make sense.
This chapter took a while to finish, I know, but I have been really busy with six hour band rehearsals, trying to finish summer homework, and getting ready to go back to school. Excuses, I know, but I have to say the feedback that I've gotten back, not just for this chapter but the story in general, has astounded me! It boosted up my confidence quite a bit and some of them made me blush a little (it isn't just the sun burn- yay band camp!) and if I didn't pm you back with a thank you for some reason; THANK YOU! YOU ARE MARVELOUS!
With that, I will leave you with just a few last minute thing. The poll will be closing later today so this is your absolute last chance.
This story is almost done; one more chapter the way I'm looking at it. That chapter should be up in soon, the latest being next Wednesday. Then the next year will be it's own book because this year alone is going to be close to 80,000 words and fourth year is going to be much longer and in depth than this so I don't want to overwhelm people with the length of the story. Um, I think that is everything I have to say except REVIEW!