Again everyone, I'm sorry this took so long. I hope you enjoy it. Please Review. Thanks:)
Disclaimer: The wonderful world of Harry Potter and all it's characters do not belong to me, but to J.K. Rowling.
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Days passed very slowly after that. Percy's mood swings scared me to the point where every second my insides were trembling. I was always looking over my shoulders wondering if he would spring on me with more screaming accusations. One morning he would be bright and cheery, then when I returned from my rounds that night he would pounce the second I walked through the portrait, pining me against the wall.
"You were seeing someone, weren't you? You're turning into a little slut! Was it the guy you left me for or some new bloke? You think I wouldn't know? I know, Penelope! I'll kill him! I'll kill you!" Threats like these became common. I felt weak and was never able to fight back. Everything I had was taken out of me. Partly from fear, and partly because some of what he said was true.
He never came into my room at night, but still, Oliver's visits became scarce. We were never certain exactly what he would do. The only real private time we got anymore were the nights I came to his dorm. He would always be waiting up near the fire. Still, I could never stay long. If I got back to my own room too late Percy would go completely insane. No place or time was safe.
Still, whenever Oliver and I snuck a kiss, the dangerous feeling of it gave me even more of a rush. However, I would much rather be able to kiss him whenever I wanted without the sick after-feeling of terror. Percy completely ruled our lives.
One of the most uncomfortable times were meals. Both Oliver and Percy would be staring at me, neither realizing the other was looking. Both their eyes kept me uneasy and I wasn't getting much to eat. Basically, the entire situation was making me both mentally and physically sick.
The morning of Oliver's quidditch game, I just couldn't take it anymore. I threw down my fork, which bounced off my plate and into a very startled Mae's porridge, and I stormed out of the Great Hall. Only a few eyes turned to stare, but I kept my head down and just kept moving.
I was contemplating jumping out of the owlry, but I figured that wouldn't really help anyone's problems, so I made a right and pushed open the front doors. As the cool fall air swept over my face and through my hair, I felt like everything was just being blown away. Outside, without anyone to watch or judge me, I just felt free from the problems that went on within the castle walls. For this small amount of time, I could just breathe again.
There was nowhere to really go except the only place that seemed to be there whenever I needed something to comfort me. Whenever I had a problem, somehow Oliver seemed to get me back to looking at that pitch, and even if it didn't resolve everything, if it was good enough for him, it was good enough for me.
So that's where I went. I sat in the best seat, and looked out over everything. My eyes glided over the green field, to the shimmering lake, then up to the sky where the very highest tip of the castle just scraped the clouds. Laying back against the benches, my eyelids relaxed and closed as I let the sun splash over my face.
I finally felt myself breathe for the first time in days. The knot in my back loosened and my mind cleared. The only thing I could picture through the darkness was that first night under the stars with Oliver. Even though confusion reigned, it was all so much more simple. Now, well, I didn't even know what was going on now.
The only thing I did know, was that no place made me more calm than this seat, and I knew it was only because it was Oliver's favorite place. He kept me sane, although he was also the reason I was going insane in the first place. The utter chaos of our entire relationship was completely unlogical to continue, but it was the only thing that gave me any rush of feeling left worth living for.
It was impossible for me to regret Oliver. So as I laid there, my eyes shut, I focused on the future. A time that I knew would come, when Percy was finally stable again, long after Oliver and I had announced our love, when we could walk down a street and hold hands, stopping at a corner to kiss and not caring who saw us. My vision was bright and brought a smile to my face. My entire future played out in my mind, completely serene and joyous. The three of us were smiling and laughing, Percy give us his best wishes, turning to me with a calm expression.
But suddenly, his face began to contort. The gentle curve of his lips turned down into a sneer and his eyes grew menacing. His wand hand thrust towards me and he let out a deafening roar. A stream of color shot from his wand directly towards me, and before I could dodged it, it stung coldly at my face in pinpricks.
My eyes fluttered open to be greeted by a depressingly gray sky. Rain drizzled my face and I quickly wiped the drops of water and sweat from my face. The pitch was quickly filling and a rumble pulsed through the stands as students eagerly chatted and cheered.
Disoriented and still shaken, I looked around me. I thought I was safe, until I saw Percy staring up at me from the bottom of the risers, exactly the way he had been in the last dream I had in this spot. The realization that I had had the same picture play out in my mind twice sent chills up my spine, which worsened as Percy climbed towards me, his eyes never departing from mine.
He didn't say anything, just merely nodded as he passed. I tried to ignore him, taking a deep breath, but after a few moments I couldn't resist it anymore and had to turn to see where he had sat. To my dismay, he was directly behind me two rows back. His face was completely expressionless, but his eyes were intent and focused on me.
I quickly turned forward again, trying to control my body from shaking as the rain began to pour harder. I didn't want anyone to notice, especially not Percy. I couldn't give him the satisfaction. Still, the wind bounding over the seats seemed to somehow slip past all of the cheering bodies and encircle me, engulfing me in a gust of frozen breath from Merlin himself. The rain began to beat madly down on everyone, but the crowd seem to enjoy it, stomping and causing the water to splash back up at us.
It sent my body into convulsions of uncontrollable shaking, the chills creeping throughout my body. I embraced myself to stop it but nothing I could do would stop my blood from chilling. As I whipped my eyes from person to person, watching them jolt in their seats and scream in anguish or triumph, I awed at how they were not feeling the same ice through their veins as I.
I didn't want to know what could possibly be causing this but the thought keep slapping itself into my mind. Slowly, no matter how much I screamed within myself, my body turned back to look up at Percy. I felt like screaming aloud but instead my lips pursed when I stared into Percy's eyes, who had not moved from the exact position they had been in when last I looked. The only thing that had changed was what was within his eyes. They had turned to ice themselves, yet mixed with a fire burning so hot just staring at him caused my face to burn, the only warmth I felt throughout my entire body. I knew the second I saw him that his eyes piercing into my back were the cause of the cold anguish I was going through.
Ripping my gaze from his, I had to force myself to turn back around. I couldn't look at him anymore although his glare compelled me to. My breath was fast and I felt as if my heart would burst out of my chest.
Suddenly, as if it came swooping out of the gray clouds closing in around me, a light shone before my eyes and filled me with warmth. Oliver hoovered above the field before me, flashing a bright smile as our eyes locked. It looked just as the picture he had drawn me.
Even from the distance I could see his eyes fill with everything he wanted to say, and I hoped that my eyes reflected the same love back to him. He was only there for a split second, but staring into his gaze seemed like forever, and in that same instant, his eyes snapped behind me. I knew he had seen Percy, and before I realized what was happening he was breezing above my head and just nearly missing Percy.
I spun around just in time to see Percy flustered and fall back into the row behind him. Oliver hung back a few rows, his eyes ablaze. I thought he was about to attack Percy, when there were simultaneous shrieks from the stands. All three of our heads snapped up and my eyes met the cause of the screams. The first thing I saw were a group of dementors on the field. But it wasn't until I came to realize what I was seeing out of the corner of my eye that I understood what the true terror was about.
It happened quickly, but to me it was as if it had been in slow motion. A figure fell from the clouds near the center of the field. It's arms flailed as it spun about, it's cloak billowing around it. From the distance, the ruby red of the uniform caused it to look as if a single drop of blood was gliding down across the threatening gray clouds.
All at once, in the midst of the screams and shrieks, the entire pitch seemed to hold it's breath and move forward, anticipating the inevitable crushing thud. The players, one by one, stopped in mid-play to turn towards the falling figure, paralyzed in their spots. The howling of the wind combined with the shrieks and the silence to form a deafening ringing that rose above the pitch.
My hands crept to my face to cover my ears as my mouth hung open in horror. From the towers, streams of color were seen shooting past the figure, continually missing in attempts to levitate the body. Teachers could be seen leaning out over the railing in their aiming.
As everyone was frozen in their shock, a streak of ruby shot above my head in an a flash. Oliver darted toward the figure in a fiery blaze, the wind whistling behind him as he drove at top speed. Above the ringing of the pitch, one could hear his scream as he sped forward to catch the falling soul.
"HARRY!" It rang above us as we watched him speed as fast as possible. He stripped his cloak off of him in attempts to move faster. It billowed in the wind for a moment before it became heavy with the fierce rain and fell just as limply as Harry.
For a second, in desperate hopes, it almost seemed as if he would reach Harry in time to save him from the fatal fall. His arm outstretched, he reached forward, nearly off of his broom to catch the falling boy. His fingers graced the edge of Harry's flailing cloak, and the entire pitch sucked in their breath at once as Harry continued to fall, Oliver shooting past with empty hands. He spun and stopped, the horror in his face evident even from the distance as he gazed downward. The entire crowd looked away before the hollowing thud. The only eyes that remained in their painful places were those of Oliver's on Harry, and mine on Oliver.
It seemed as if the crowd had frozen, to be forever locked in time in that moment. Slowly, as if one by one, people began to move again. The first figures seen were Ron and Hermione darting across the field toward Harry's limp body. I faintly remembered seeing them flee out of the corner of my eye the second Harry had first been spotted. The next was Dumbledore's patronus, chasing the dementors away. Soon, the players from both teams slowly started to descend to the field, crowding around Harry. Teachers sprinted toward the scene, moving everyone away. Percy was next, moving down the stairs quickly and barking orders at everyone to move out of his way. Students stood in their places, stunned.
Once Percy was gone, I regained some of my senses. Through the shrieks of, "Harry Potter is dead!" I revived my Head Girl state of mind and began giving my own orders.
"Everyone, get to your common rooms immediately. Keep away from the hospital wing and remain in your rooms until further notice. No detours; straight to the castle and to your rooms. Immediately! Everyone begin to move. Stay away from the field exit." People slowly started to listen and nod, quickly making their way down the stairs. I focused on Oliver again, who had not moved from the placed he hoovered after he had missed Harry. However, I began to take notice of the shouts and pointing of the people around me. I lifted my eyes to see a blue figure descend from where Harry had fallen. In his hand, glinting in the breaking sunlight, was the snitch.
Oliver saw too, a dead expression on his face. Once Harry had been lifted and taken from the field, he finally descended and landed on the muddy field. Slowly, defeated with his head down and shoulders slumped, he walked off the grass, his broom trailing behind him. Most of the stands were empty and the field had been cleared, so it was just him treading alone. My heart tore to see him in such anguish.
Once I had left the stands I found a teacher who had been at Harry's side. She informed me of his condition; of how the field was soft from the rain, how he was carried off to the hospital wing with normal breathing, merely unconscious with some broken bones. It lifted my aching heart to hear Harry was alright, but as I turned to gaze at the player's entrance, I could think only of Oliver. The team had left to be at Harry's side, but Oliver still had not let the pitch.
Slowly, I made my way to the player's area, finding the room which I needed. I placed my hand against the heavy wooden face of the door and pushed gently. Hearing the sound of running water, I entered the Gryffindor team's changing room. With the dozen or so people who would be with Harry in the hospital wing, they didn't need me there. The only person who truly needed me now, was the only person who I truly needed just as much.
