A/N: Just a re-posting. Thanks for letting me know about those errors. The posting was correct on my computer, but it must have gotten jumbled when I uploaded it.
Same disclaimers!
"Cricket, wait up!" She was on her way back to the Gryffindor common room after a check up with Madam Promfrey when she heard an unfamiliar voice call to her. She turned slowly and to her shock she saw:
"Charlie!" It only took him a couple moments to catch up to her. Cricket studied him as she waited for him to start talking, but he remained silent and looked everywhere but her face. "Charlie?"
"Yes?" he finally looked at her.
Cricket smiled before saying, "You chased after me calling my name...?" she prompted.
"Oh!" he looked down at his feet. "I was just wondering if you were alright. I heard about the whole thing that happened with your father."
"Where did you hear that?" Last she knew the whole ordeal was kept as quiet as possible.
"Lucius reappeared a couple days ago boasting of his 'good deeds.'" He paused. "Plus it was kind of hard not to notice you weren't in class."
Cricket glared at both comments. "I have no idea what Malfoy is talking about, and as for you, you didn't seem to care if I was in class one way or another for the past few weeks."
He sighed, "I know. I'm sorry about what I said. With everything that was going on, I guess it was just a little too much."
She snorted with indignation. Sure, he has lots of problems... "Forget it, what were you talking about Malfoy?"
Charlie ground his teeth as he remembered Malfoy's tale.
Lucius Malfoy leaned back in his chair in the Slytherin Common room. He had all of his followers surrounding him as he told everyone why he'd been gone for so long. "So I was getting a little action from the lovely Miss Mann, when her half-crazed father comes out of the forest shooting hexes at us. So I did what any noble wizard would do. I started dueling with the lunatic." He paused to bask in the sound of all the girls swooning. Charlie gagged at the sound.
"But just when I almost had the duel finished, he turns to Cricket and aims a curse at her. Thinking only for her safety, I jump in front of it." Again, a pause for the ladies.
"When I woke up, we were tied up in this room. I was pretty much left alone, but my dear Cricket didn't look so lucky. I managed to get both of us untied before her father came back. When he did show up, I took him down before he could say 'Quidditch.' Then I got Cricket to St. Mungos and contacted the officials to get Radley Mann sent to Azkaban."
By the time Charlie was finished telling her story, Cricket was seconds away from finding the blonde Slytherin and rip his 'pretty-blond' hair out.
"So I'm guessing that isn't what happened?" Charlie ventured cautiously.
"No... Well, I don't know what happened after my dad kidnapped me, but everything before that is definitely not true."
"What happened?"
"Malfoy made a move on me and I made his chances at having children considerably less. As he fell, my father attacked me and that's all I remember."
Charlie smirked slightly but then asked, "What are you going to do about Lucius?"
Cricket thought for a moment. "Make him pay at Saturday's game."
=-=-=-=
"Hey Moony, get your lips off my beater!" James hollered Saturday morning during breakfast.
Sirius looked around him, "Does he have his lips on me again? How many times do I have to tell you, Moony, I don't swing that way."
"That's not funny," Emily said glaring at her 'boyfriend.'
"You can say that again," Remus muttered as he pulled Cricket tighter to his side. He nuzzled his face against her neck. "Are you sure you want to do this? I don't like the idea of bludgers flying around you."
"You don't seem to worry when Sirius does this," she commented.
"Yeah, well Sirius' head is so thick it probably wouldn't matter."
"I'll be fine."
"I have a bad feeling about this," Remus whispered.
"You have nothing to worry about. It's just a Quidditch game," she smiled brightly.
"Did you hear me?!" James growled. "I said get your lips off her so we can go over some plays!"
"Alright, Alright, Captain," Cricket growled. She turned to Remus and planted a kiss against his lips. "Don't worry about me, I'm tough." She gave him one more smile and kiss before standing and standing next to James.
"Star, Cranz, Jones, Brown; let's go!" James turned and started walking, not bothering to wait for the rest of the team.
Cricket walked down to the pitch to change into the Gryffindor Quidditch uniforms and to listen to James' pep-talk. It wasn't until she was walking out onto the pitch she began to get nervous.
She felt like some pro or something; over three-quarters of the pitch were chanting 'Gryffindor' while one mob of green booed them as they walked out.
How could I think I could do this!? Everyone is watching me!
"Just forget they're there. I've seen you practice, you'll do fine." Sirius dropped an arm across her shoulders as he consoled her.
"You think so?" she asked. Getting a compliment out of Sirius was hard work.
"I wouldn't have said so if I didn't think so, would I?" He gave her shoulders a final squeeze before releasing her. "Now let's go beat these Slytherins."
When they stood in the middle of the pitch, they met the Slytherin team. Cricket smiled weakly at Charlie and took everything she had not to attack Malfoy as he winked at her. She ignored them and looked for Remus and the girls in the crowd as the announcer listed off the players. As they were each called, they went for a small loop around the pitch.
"For the Slytherin team we have their chasers: Billie Meen, Bobby Shader, and Zach Taylor; their keeper: Sophie Clark; seeker: Katie Polanski; and their beaters: Charlie Ashfield, and Slytherin's captain, Lucius Malfoy." The announcer seemed very bored as he rattled off Slytherin's team, but once he got to the Gryffindors he began shouting and the crowd started cheering. "And for the Gryffindors we have our gorgeous chasers: Stella Star, Rosie Brown, and Lisa Jones! Our unstoppable keeper: Michael Cranz! For our beaters we have Hogwarts current ladies-man: Sirius Black, and filling in the other beater position because someone gave him detention—" his voice cut out as Professor McGonagall yelled at him "—anyways, filling in the beater position is the beautiful Cricket Mann!"
Cricket took off for a trip around the field. She heard a couple cat-calls in the crowd (and even some cheers from Slytherin) but her sights were only on one person. As passed Remus, she blew him a kiss and she heard all the girls coo as she flew back to her position.
"And last but not least, the best Seeker yet to come: James Potter!"
The crowd became the loudest yet as James made a pass around the field. Once he made it back to the team, the current flying instructor moved towards the box containing the quaffle, snitch, and two bludgers. The keepers were already at their stations at the goal posts and the rest of the players hovered over the ground a few feet waiting for the game to start.
Cricket's nervousness was silly because as soon as the game started, all of it disappeared and she treated it like a normal game. Cricket and Sirius proved to be quite a team as they blocked bludgers targeting their teammates and hit them towards the Slytherins. Cricket made it a personal quest to aim as many towards Malfoy as possible. More than once she got a nice shot on him when he wasn't paying attention.
About a half-hour into the game, Slytherin called a time-out, allowing the Gryffindors to converse as well. James looked around at his teammates with a wide grin, "You guys are doing great out there. Sirius and Cricket, keep it up. But Crick, lay off Malfoy a bit will you? Keep it up and you'll get called on it. Ladies," he looked towards the chasers, "lovely work out there. We're up by 40. Keep it up," he winked at them.
"Don't let Lily see that," Cricket teased.
"Quiet," James hissed. "Anyways, Cranz, there isn't much action for you, but don't let that pull your head from the game, got it?"
"Hey, Potter! Why don't you just end this game?" Sirius grumbled.
"Yeah, end the game," said Cranz.
"Fine, give me two minutes," James smirked just as the whistle blew to resume the game.
Cricket soared up to a high position to scout out the area and was soon joined by Malfoy.
"Why didn't you tell me you were playing in this game?" He asked as he hit a bludger towards a Gryffindor player.
"It didn't concern you. I don't answer to you." She hit another bludger towards a Slytherin player.
"I had a right to know," he growled, hitting another bludger.
They're argument continued, each hitting a bludger at the other team every once in a while.
Meanwhile, Sirius was having the time of his life. Beating up Slytherins and getting no detention for it. Ah, life is bliss. He quickly scanned the pitch for his beater partner and found her high above him arguing with Malfoy, but still managing to hit Slytherins with bludgers. He was about to turn away when green movement caught his attention further behind Cricket.
Charlie Ashfield was fighting off Zach Taylor. Taylor was prying Charlie beater bat from his fingers, all the while smiling evilly at Cricket.
"Cricket, watch—" he ate his words as Shader flew by and hit him in the head with the tail of his broom.
When he finally righted himself, he looked up just as Taylor sent a bludger flying towards Cricket.
"CRICKET!" Sirius shouted.
Cricket barely heard Sirius scream, she was trying to figure Malfoy out. He was in the middle of yelling something when his eyes widened and started screaming at her to fly away. She heard Sirius scream again as the bludger connected to her head and sent her vaulting over her broom and racing towards the ground, but all was dark to her.
A/N: Hope all is well! :)