ARIANA

Quidditch is never something that I've been particularly enamoured by. It's fun I suppose, but it's certainly not the be all and end all of my existence. But since I was dating the Gryffindor Quidditch captain and my best friend was the Ravenclaw Quidditch captain it was a fairly large part of my life. Hufflepuff versus Gryffindor was the weekend after we came back from winter break. It was still freezing cold. The teams flew out onto the pitch. I cheered as loud as I could when Al, Lily and Hugo came out.

'You disgrace to Ravenclaw,' Arya said, amused.

'Well they aren't actually playing us are they so I don't see why I shouldn't cheer for my friends,' I said.

'Well you should be cheering for Hufflepuff,' she said. 'Despite their abysmal performance against us Gryffindor have a pretty good team. If Potter could get his head out of his arse and get them to work together they'll win the cup no problem.'

'I thought you said Ravenclaw are definitely going to win,' I said.

'Yeah I don't see Potter managing to get his team together anytime soon,' she said smirking. 'The cup's Ravenclaw's this year.'

'AND ANOTHER TEN POINTS FOR GRYFFINDOR,' Zabini shouted.

'I wouldn't count your dragons before they're hatched Thomas,' Rose said. She was sitting in front of us and had obviously heard everything we had said. Rose hated Arya with an intensity I had rarely seen. I mean even her hatred of me paled in comparison.

'LILY'S REALLY ON FIRE TODAY,' Zabini shouted. 'GRYFFINDOR LEAD THIRTY TO TEN.'

Lily, Hugo and Sturridge flew around each other, weaving around the hapless Hufflepuff players who could barely keep up with them. Very soon Gryffindor were up by seventy points.

'They're definitely working together now,' I said to Arya who looked like she had eaten something particularly sour.

'OH FUCK,' I heard Zabini shout. I looked around and suddenly saw Al's limp body falling through the air. I felt bile rise in my throat. Rose, Scorpius, Lorcan and I ran down to the pitch. Al just lay there. The referee had cushioned his fall with magic but his eyes were closed. I went over to him and brushed his face with my hands, willing him to be okay. Above us the game continued. Suddenly I hated Quidditch.

Madame Pomfrey thrust me out of the way conjured up a stretcher and sent him to the Hospital Wing.

Lorcan, Scorpius, Rose and I followed. Zabini had abandoned his megaphone and accompanied us too. I gripped Rose's hand because at that moment I knew she was just as scared as me. She didn't pull away and I took some comfort from that. The walk to the Hospital Wing was nerve-wracking. What made me even more scared was the obvious worry on the faces of all his friends. This wasn't just another Quidditch injury.

We went into the Hospital Wing but Madame Pomfrey shooed us out. We paced up and down nervously. Judging by the noise coming from the pitch the match was still going on. Rose had curled up next to me like a puppy. She seemed to be sleeping. I looked at Lorcan quizzically.

'It's her coping mechanism,' he explained. 'She just sort of shuts down when things become overwhelming.'

'Oh,' I said.

After another hour of agonized waiting we were allowed in.

'He's still a little groggy, so don't excite him too much,' Madame Pomfrey warned.

We promised not to upset him.

'Hey,' I said softly. I entwined my fingers with his.

'Hi,' he said. 'So um what happened?'

'You fell off your broom mate,' Scorpius said. 'You should've seen these girls. They were out of their minds with worry.'

'Please I wasn't the one making a hole in the floor because of my pacing,' Rose said. 'I knew you would be fine Al.'

Her pale face however told a rather different story.

'I'm glad to see you care about me so much,' Al said with a hint of a smile. 'So how badly did we lose?' he asked, it sounded like the words had been forced from his mouth.

'I don't think the game's over,' Lorcan said.

Al blinked owlishly. 'Oh,' he said.

'Don't worry about that,' I said. 'Just get some rest.'

He sighed. 'I think I'll do that,' he said. He hadn't let go of my hand so Lorcan (quite considerately I may add) conjured up a chair for me.

We waited around his bed for another forty-five minutes. We heard a lot of yelling from the pitch and figured that the match must've finally ended. It had to be one of the longest I had ever seen. The Hufflepuff seeker must've caught the snitch.

'It's over, isn't it?' Al asked.

'Shh go back to sleep,' I said.

'I'm so worthless,' he said. 'Couldn't even do once what James did thrice.'

'You tried,' I said. 'And they were all playing brilliantly before you fell. You managed to turn them into a team.'

'Don't beat yourself up,' Lorcan said. 'It's a miracle they managed to hang on this long.'

Ten minutes later there was a lot noise coming from outside the Hospital Wing.

'But we have to see him,' someone was shouting.

Al groaned. 'I really can't face them right now,' he said.

'All of you be quiet,' I heard Madame Pomfrey say.

'Just ten minutes,' the same person pleaded. I recognized it as Lily.

'Fine but not a second longer,' Madame Pomfrey said sniffing

Lily and Hugo ran up to his bed.

'We did it,' she said jubilantly. 'We won.'

'You what?' Al asked looking like he was in complete shock.

We beat them,' she said. 'Only by ten points so we'll have to destroy Slytherin if we want to win the cup. But we still won.'

The smile on Al's face stretched so wide it almost looked like it hurt.

'We really won?' he asked as if worried this might all be some sort of cruel joke.

'You really are thick,' Lily sighed mockingly. 'Did that fall cause your brain to fall out?'

'Shut up,' he said laughing. 'I just can't believe it.'

'Lily was brilliant,' Hugo said excitedly. 'She scored twelve goals.'

'That's incredible Lils,' Al said enthusiastically. He tried to move forgetting that his back had practically been broken and winced in pain.

'Really is incredible,' Scorpius said, looking at her in awe. Then as if they couldn't help themselves they sort of moved in toward each other and were suddenly kissing so passionately it was almost scary.

I felt Al's hand convulsively tighten around mine. They broke apart and Scorpius looked at Albus with such guilt I felt sorry for him.

'What are you doing?' Al asked, sounding dangerous. Well as dangerous as you can sound when you're in a hospital bed with your back all fucked up.

'I'm sorry,' Scorpius said. 'I just…. I can't help it.'

'She's my sister Scorpius,' Al said sounding incredibly hurt.

'And I love her,' he said.

'I think you should leave,' Al said his tone even.

'I'm sorry,' Scorpius said. 'I can't begin to tell you how sorry I am.' He walked out his head hanging low.

'Okay everybody,' Pomfrey said. 'It's been ten minutes. Out.'

'No please,' Al said. 'Can she stay?' he asked.

'Okay fine. Miss Longbottom can stay. But everyone else out,' she said firmly.

'Have you ever been incredibly happy and then suddenly something happens that make you feel like you've just gone from heaven to hell?' he asked.

'Oh Al,' I said holding his face in my hands. 'Don't exaggerate. Sure it's a bit of a shock but Lily really is old enough to decide who she wants to date.'

'But Scorpius,' he groaned. 'He may be my best mate but you know what he does to girls.'

'But he hasn't been doing much of that lately has he?' I asked. 'You said it yourself. Scorpius hasn't hooked up with anyone this whole year.'

'That's because he's getting some from my sister,' he said, his expression so disgusted you would think there was a pile of dragon dung in front of his nose.

'He hasn't,' I said. 'Lily would've told me if it had… um… progressed any further than snogging.'

'It's still gross,' he said wrinkling up his nose.

'Stop being so childish,' I said. 'He loves her. He said so himself and when was the last time Scorpius ever admitted to loving anybody?'

'I'm not being childish,' he said pouting. He was actually kind of cute when he did that. Not that I'd ever tell him.

'Yes you are,' I said laughing and placing a kiss on his nose. 'They love each other. Just let them be.' I kissed his jaw and then his cheek.

'You're distracting me,' he said.

'Are you complaining?' I asked.

'Not really no,' he admitted. I laughed and kissed him properly.

'Miss Longbottom,' Madame Pomfrey said materializing behind us. 'I'm afraid this constitutes as exciting him.'

'I'm sorry,' I said. 'I'll be good.' She sniffed and walked away. I saw Al suppress a smile.

We sat in companionable silence for a while.

'Are you sure you don't want to go to the celebration party thing?' he asked at around eight o'clock. A really nice house-elf had gotten us dinner.

'Do you want to get rid of me?' I asked smiling at him because I knew that he didn't really want me to leave.

'Well you might have more fun that sitting around here,' he said gesticulating with his spoon.

'I'll leave when you go to sleep,' I said. 'And really those parties aren't exactly my cup of tea.'

'You know that I love you,' he said. I froze a little inside. Damn, did I love him? It was the first time he had actually said it out loud. A voice in my head was shouting too soon too soon at me.

'You don't have to say it back,' he said. 'I just wanted to let you know.'

I thought about it for a while. I mean no one had ever made me fell quite the way he did. It wasn't just the snogging (which was brilliant) it was everything. His slight insecurity, his incredibly loyalty to his friends, his sometimes annoying smartness.

'You know what,' I said tentatively. 'I think I might love you too.'

His face lit up. He gripped my hand tightly.

'You're incredible,' he said his voice oddly gruff.

a/n: So we're nearing the end. I hope you thought this chapter was up to the mark. I'm not very good at writing Quidditch stuff I mean you have to be JK Rowling which I certainly am not. So we're nearing the end maybe two or three more chapters and then I'll start my sequel which will deal with Fred Weasley and an OC but will definitely have members of the Wolf Pack, especially Rose. So you have been warned. Anyway please review. I only got one for the last chapter and was actually really sad. Reviews inspire me so the more you review the faster I am likely to update.