"-and the Quaffle is back in the lion's paws, Walters didn't even see Potter!"
Edgar Bone's charismatic cries echoed around the Quidditch pitch where a sea of emerald and scarlet students waved manically at the fourteen players, screaming chants of encouragement for their favourite teams. The sky was a dazzling stone white and an increasingly heavy shower of sleet tried to dampen the spirits of the first match of the season but the drops of ice only motivated them further - flying in wet conditions always made for an entertaining match, who was going to be the first to slip from their broom?
"Looking for this?" shouted James, twirling the red ball on his fingertip as Walters spun around in confusion, using Bone's commentary to figure out what just happened. He was a spritely, lean seventh-year who had stretched out over the summer, he was still getting used to his gangly limbs and James used his poor coordination to his advantage, how could he resist?
"Potter, you slippery little shit!" yelled Walters, steadying his broom from James' vicious spin and furiously wiped the splatters of sleet from his face, trying to better his chances against his talented opponent.
"And they say I'm the blind one!" barked James before jetting off, leading the Slytherin chaser trio away from the Gryffindor goals. The snake's team captain, Emma Vanity, barged past her teammates and snarled at James, already frustrated with his show-boating attitude. She may have been the smallest on their team but her anger issues outweighed all of the Slytherins combined and James grew to know which of Vanity's buttons to press; he profusely reminded his team in the changing room before the match to be as arrogant and pompous as possible, conforming to their house stereotype worked wonders on the Slytherins.
"This is too easy! Look over there!" shouted Toby, laughing heartily as he embraced his attention-seeking side. Fawlkes adapted to James' technique the fastest, he couldn't wait to show off in front of the school and he fared well against his fellow chasers' performances. Without missing a beat Toby caught James' curveball and whisked off back in the direction they came in an effort to nauseate their opposition.
"Fawlkes throws the Quaffle back to Potter, now back to Fawlkes, and again back to Potter… and yep, you guessed it folks - back to Fawlkes!" The stands laughed along as James and Toby continued to confuse the chasers with their tedious back and forth, further driving the snakes insane. Vanity was spitting flames as she flew back for the dozenth time.
"DERRICK! MIKE! HIT THEM ALREADY!" she bellowed, her roar magnified by her intense hatred for Potter who smugly dodged out of her reach once again with a yawn. The Slytherin chasers were waiting for their bludgeoning teammates to intervene but they were nowhere to be seen in the chaotic flurry and neither were the bludgers.
"-it looks like Selwyn and Fitzgerald are having a little trouble, Crouch keeps playing with their balls!" sniggered Bones, conjuring another shiver of laughter from the crowds as they looked upwards, finally spotting the dizzy tornado of players high above the stadium.
"Bones, behave!" chastised McGonagall as the megaphone caught the tail of her tuts.
"Sorry Professor, I'm only telling the people the truth - look!"
Giselle squealed and leapt off her broom for the third time, trusting her own strength to carry her weight as she successfully avoided the thirsty bludger. She dangled from the broom by her hand and squeezed until her nails almost impaled the wood. The ball rocketed through the air where she was sitting seconds ago and it caught Fitzgerald in the chest with a lung-crushing thud, air sizzled from his body as he shot down the ground and Giselle turned his teammate with a pout.
"Look what you just did!" she gasped, pointing at the breathless player, "you almost killed him!"
"CROUCH!" shrieked Derrick Selwyn, shaking with both his rage and the bone-chilling wind that battered them.
The bludger made its way back to the pair but Giselle took the moment of recuperation from both sides to assess her situation and catch her breath. Gryffindor were in the lead with a seventy point difference and the scores sat at one hundred and thirty to sixty (she had the winning touch in five of them and the elation from the crowds' reaction still buzzed through her) and once their tenth goal pummeled their keeper Josie Carmichael through the middle hoop Giselle assumed her prime position in James' grand plan. She drew the two Slytherin beaters high into the sky, whizzing around them in spirals to confuse their sense of direction and she kept them high in the clouds with a game of dodgeball - she was having a blast!
"Come on big boy," teased Giselle, smoothing her hair back into her ponytail, "you can't hit me!"
For a sixth-year, Selwyn was humongous; he was tough and stocky like a brick wall and he used his build to his advantage whenever he could but unfortunately Giselle was too small and fast for him to catch. She spotted the veins bulge in his neck as he caressed his bat, glaring minaciously at her as he planned his attack, it was clear he was desperate to injure her in any way; she spotted the wand in his boot a while ago.
"You're gonna regret that!" he vowed, picking up speed again as the bludger joined the fray. Giselle snorted at his poor efforts and flew around Selwyn like an irritating, unkillable wasp, pestering him by getting incredibly close to him and then darting off as the bludger switched paths. Since James' horrific hangover task, her stomach retained a thicker coat and it handled her nauseating loops like a professional so she whipped the Slytherin into another lashing frenzy and he thrashed his bat around aimlessly with no care for his own safety.
"Get off me! Stop it!" whined Selwyn, growing tired of the chase.
"Aww you're no fun!" sighed Giselle in disappointment, flicking her broom tail and plummeting a few feet as the bludger rushed over her head, locking back onto the exhausted boy. "Your stamina is terrible, Derrick. I thought you had another round in you."
"I'll show you stamina!" he shot back, using the last of his energy to knock the Gryffindor off her broom. With an ear-splitting smack of his bat, Selwyn whacked the ball back towards Giselle like a cannonball but she swerved mid-air and dared to climb even higher. The air was already thin, both players were already taking large gasping breaths to keep themselves conscious but she inhaled as much oxygen as her lungs allowed and headed for the stars.
"I don't believe it!" scoffed Bones, "Crouch, Selwyn, and the second bludger have disappeared behind the clouds!"
The minuscule pitch faded behind the icy mist and Giselle frantically wiped her face to stop her eyelashes from fusing together as icicles started to form all over her body. Her heartbeat picked up and her chest begged her for more air, she didn't have long. With Selwyn on her tail she urged Flash II to reach his top speed but the force from the bludger whizzing past her head made her falter - the ball overtook the rocketing pair and slowed to a sudden stop directly ahead; they had gone too high and the bludger was about to force them back the way they came.
Giselle always wondered what would happen if she took the school equipment up to the heavens, would Hogwarts try to stop the students from leaving the grounds? Were they allowed to surpass the edge of the school's magical boundary? She concluded that the answer was a solid no. As she was leading the chase, her head was more likely to concave than the boy behind her but her instinctives kicked in and she closed her eyes, embracing the sparkle of adrenaline that powered her brave jump. James did say to show off, she was only following her captain's orders.
"AH!" Selwyn instinctively screamed when Giselle threw herself from her broom and hurtled down towards the earth, letting gravity work its own magic. The sight of her apparent suicide had paralysed the beater, his eyes were larger than the bludger that was chasing him back through the clouds but his broom lacked the speed that Giselle gained from the jump and he fell behind.
Wind roaring in her ears, Giselle gasped at the exhilaration of free-falling and she adjusted to the death-defying activity as though she had done it a thousand times before, the threat of dying evaporated when she plunged through the bottom of the cloud coverage and took in the Quidditch game below her, she felt more like a bird than she ever did on her broom, the sensation was strangely calming.
"-close call from Carmichael there! Fawlkes is back in possession and-" Bone's horrified gasp ricocheted around the stands and Giselle strained her eardrums to catch his reaction to her entrance, "MERLIN'S BEARD! GISELLE?! GRAB YOUR BROOM! WHAT IS SHE DOING?!"
Giselle swore the stands exploded, the enormous wave of noise crashed over her in a heavy wave and it shook her into action, all eyes were on her and she had to shine. Struggling to keep her eyes open from the sheer force dragging her down, she frantically searched the air for Flash II and spotted him a metre away, spiralling out of control like a fizzling rocket. Her heart jumped into her mouth and she flailed her arms around as though she were swimming through the sky but her movements increased when she realised she had reached the tops of the stands.
James looped around the Slytherin goals and raced towards Giselle in a panic, scared shitless that she wasn't going to make it time, and he shot through the wall of green players as though they were made of flimsy plastic. The shouts from those watching were unruly, many clutched their faces to shield their eyes from the inevitable splatter of flesh against hard earth but the audible gasp that rippled through the sea of onlookers was enough to empower the fallen chaser.
"Gotcha!" Giselle choked on a mouthful of sleet as she snatched her broom handle to steady its powerful spin. She wrapped her thighs around the wood and clung on for dear life but she couldn't stop the scream as she avoided the pitch by only a few inches, the grass blades tickled her cheeks and she rasped, invigorated by her near-death experience.
"I don't believe it?!" Edgar celebrated, prying his anxious grip from the headmistress' arms beside him. "Crouch lives! What a recovery! Pulling out from a dive is difficult, even professionals struggle with the feat, but to achieve it after falling hundreds of feet without a bloody broom?! I have no words!"
"H-How was that?" stuttered Giselle as she shot off to join James and Toby in dishevelling the formation of Slytherins chasing down the Quaffle. Her dark hair glistened with streaks of ice, her freckled cheeks were rosy red from the whips of wind and she couldn't stop shivering but the grin on her plump albeit frozen lips was more radiant than ever.
"Incredible!" howled James, batting the ball her way after Walters took another failed dive, "Absolutely insane, I actually felt my arsehole tighten up watching that!"
"Aw mate that's the loveliest thing you've ever said," sniffed Giselle, shakily wiping a fake tear away from her stinging eyes before snatching the Quaffle and zooming off to prevent the opposition from scoring.
"What did you do with your victim? Where's Selwyn?" James shouted after her but before she could answer another gasp rocked the stands as Selwyn's unconscious body fell from the sky. The timing couldn't have been more perfect, Giselle mentally complimented herself as the beater hurtled straight into Regulus Black, knocking him off his path towards the glittering golden snitch. With an anguished scream, Regulus caught Selwyn and they crash landed, sliding through the grass in an explosion of thick mud.
"-and down goes Selwyn and Black! Ouch, Black was inches away from catching the snitch - that's gotta hurt!" announced Bones and the crowd oohed, wincing for the emerald team as their chances of winning vanished. The crimson students leapt to their feet and yelled for their seeker to go faster, they could taste triumph on the tips of their tongues.
"With Black out of the race, Novak makes a reach for the snitch and - yes! - she's caught it! GRYFFINDOR WINS!"
The euphoria of winning a match was unparalleled, it had been two excruciatingly long years since her last win and she released every loud whoop that had been bottled up inside her but her cheers were cut short when James tackled her to the ground, erratic from his success as the winning captain. The team ran over to join them in their dance, absorbing their first win together before they retired to the changing rooms to get ready for their victory party.
"Did you see the bloke next to McGonagall?! He was transfixed! I've seen his face so many times but I'm trying to remember who he is. I swear he used to play for the Ballycastle Bats?" rambled James, constantly chatting as he scrapped mud from his trusty broom, Blitz. Giselle carefully inspected Flash II for ice damage and nodded, remembering the mesmerised new faces that were jammed into the staff section of the stands. The elderly gentlemen sitting beside their head of house struck a chord with Giselle, she knew she had seen their faces on posters and in magazines countless times before but during the game she ignored the presence of the Quidditch legends and persistently scanned the box for her father.
Barty never came. Giselle shouldn't have been surprised, he never said he was going to attend but she still hated herself for holding onto the feeble hope that he might. Blocking out the cheers that now filled the tent from the Gryffindors that came flooding in, Giselle slumped down onto the bench and busied herself with untying her boots, she couldn't think about her father now - she should be on top of the world!
"Yeah, that was definitely their old captain," she said confidently, she recognised the man's pointy moustache from the array of posters on her bedroom wall, "O'Malley? Or Mahoney? Whatever his name is, he's Ballycastle's top goal scorer of all time."
"Ah! I knew it! Mum is going to freak out when I write to her!" exclaimed James, staring back at the tent's entrance with a gleam in his eye, "I hope we impressed him."
"His jaw was on the floor, Potter," laughed Giselle, brightening up at the sight of her friend's happiness, "I think we rocked his world."
"You've rocked several peoples' worlds today, I know for a fact that Selwyn is going to try and kick your arse the next time he sees you," snickered James, turning back to Giselle to grace her with a high-five, "I'm so proud, the way he smacked into Regulus was just," he kissed his fingers and sighed, savouring the memory again, "so beautiful."
"What can I say?" shrugged Giselle modestly, "I wish I could take credit for Derrick crashing into Black though, that was pure luck, but it's a shame he hit the wrong brother." She started to head towards the girls changing room but James' snort of contempt caught her attention.
"Regulus was very lucky I was too busy being the top scorer of the game," he scowled, viciously ripping off his gloves, "or else I would have knocked him down myself…wanker."
Giselle frowned and turned back, no longer interested in getting changed. When it came to the siblings of his best friends, James had an unwritten rule that stopped him from attacking the men that made their lives a living hell, he never started on Junior or Regulus unless he was provoked so the comment seemed out of place. "Why? What's he done now?" asked Giselle, pretending she didn't care.
James hesitated and stared at the gloves in his hands, debating whether he should say or not but his struggle didn't last long. With a sigh, he dragged Giselle into a quiet corner, cautiously glancing at the entrance of the tent as they passed, and shot her a look that set her on edge. She let go of her curious smile and waited patiently for him to explain.
"Sirius doesn't want you to know about this but I disagree, I think you need to know and you need to remember that this goes beyond your silly little spat-," he started to whisper.
"It's more than a spat, James," warned Giselle quietly, scowling up at him.
"Whatever," he waved his hand dismissively, "regardless of your two's current relationship, you deserve to know what went on and you'll understand why when I tell you." The crease on his brow deepened and he scratched his jaw, mentally summoning the courage to spit it out and her gut wriggled nervously, preparing herself for bad news. It had to be bad news, he looked too upset for this to be nothing.
"And?" she encouraged as his eyes flickered to the entrance again.
"Sirius has been disowned, something happened during the summer after fifth year and he's been living with me ever since," revealed James, "it was bad, Elle. Really bad."
For a moment all animosity and hatred Giselle harboured for Sirius vanished and her heart throbbed, racing a mile a minute as she fought violent images of him suffering at the hands of those who were supposed to love him unconditionally. She knew this would happen. His disowning was inevitable, just like hers, and she once promised him that she would be there when it happened. The abruptness of James' confession left her speechless, she couldn't hide her horrified expression and he read the hurt in her eyes as though he were fluent in her thoughts. He tried to smile but the sensitive topic made it feel like a punishment.
"Oh…" she breathed, dropping her heavy gaze to the floor to avoid embarrassing herself further, "...right."
Sirius' fury with her was starting to make sense but her broken heart urged her to fight back against the guilt, him being disowned doesn't make up for him forgetting all about her. You should have run away with him when you had the chance, if you listened to him then he wouldn't have had to suffer, her subconscious jabbed but she flicked the pesky dark thoughts away.
At least he was still here, he still had James. I had no one, she reminded herself, fuelling her malignity.
"How bad?" she mumbled when James stayed silent.
"Again, he really doesn't want you to know this so this stays between us. Remus and Peter don't even know about this yet, he only told me and I know if you two were speaking then he would have told you first," said James under his breath, shielding the rest of the room from their conversation with his back. Giselle didn't respond, she was too bitter to admit he was probably right.
"It didn't help that he went back to that shithole after Remus broke up with him but he got it in the neck immediately from his parents when they found out he had taken the Muggle Studies OWL exam," he explained, "He said he tried running away that night but it didn't work. Regulus snitched on him, he caught Sirius lowering his trunk of the window using his bedsheets as a rope and his father went berserk. They locked him up for a couple of weeks without food, they started burning some of his stuff, tried to break his wand, and then they called his cousins round for a little talk."
Giselle's heart was in her mouth and she blinked away the threat of forming tears, hating how badly she needed to know. She had met Sirius' cousins once before and they made it very clear during their only meeting that they were dedicated Death Eaters who despised blood traitorous attitudes, but Giselle was immediately taken back to her fight with Junior during the summer - she had met one of his cousins twice, Bellatrix Black watched over the duel between her and Junior and she still could hear her shrill cackles. Tiny pin pricks scattered all over her body and she instinctively tensed, fists clenched tightly as she glared at James. He noticed her growing discomfort and pressed on, he wanted this to hurt her, he needed her to talk to Sirius.
"He won't tell me what happened next but all I do know is that Regulus helped their cousin Bellatrix in 'teaching him a lesson' and it ended with his mother using the cruciatus curse on him. He ran to mine that night," he said, his hazel eyes locked on Giselle with determination, and the corners of his lips twitched when she gasped in horror, covering her mouth in disbelief.
"...I can't believe she actually did it. He was always scared that she would snap..." she breathed, breaking the glum silence and James nodded.
"I'm worried that using an Unforgivable on him wasn't the worst thing she's done, he's not telling me something, I can feel it," confided James seriously and Giselle couldn't help but admire how maturely he was dealing with this terrible situation, the old James wouldn't stoop to be this cautious and wary. He truly loved Sirius like he was his own flesh and blood, Giselle thanked the universe for bringing James into Sirius' life, he was a godsend.
"You're a saint, Potter, honestly you don't know how great you really are," she voiced, needing to give him some recognition, "he's very lucky to have you."
"But he should have you too," urged James suddenly, switching tactics, "you're probably the only one here who knows how he's feeling and I know you need someone to talk to about it as well."
His words sparked Giselle's defensive walls and they shot straight back up, strengthening against the thought of speaking to Sirius. "If he wanted to talk about it then he should have written to me," she spat angrily, taking him by surprise.
"He did write! I saw him write the letters with my own four eyes!" exclaimed James, jumping to defend his adopted brother, "Even I wrote to you about this!"
"Don't start this again," she huffed with an eye roll, "just admit that you forgot about me and then we can move past this."
"Um, no!" shouted James with a loud laugh, finding the whole thing hilarious, "this is ridiculous! If you can forgive me for not sending letters, which I definitely did, then you should forgive him too!"
Giselle's eye twitched and the creature inside of her nudged her to explode but James was saved from an explosive row by the arrival of their friends who had gotten bored of waiting outside and came in to hunt them down, desperate to start the festivities.
"What the hell are you guys doing in here?!" complained Remus, barging into the tent with an extravagantly large sign that read 'Potter's a hit - Vanity eat shit!', "It's snowing properly now and I can't feel my fingers."
"Please hurry up! Oh, you're still in your robes! Great!" complained Peter, shaking off the snowflakes that glittered on his cloak.
"Yeah, it's very unlike you not to be running around soaking up your glory, I thought you'd be gagging to head up and join the party. It's probably started by now," added Lily as she pushed the sign out of her way, running her fingers through her soft red waves as Remus had knocked them out of place.
James shot Giselle one last glare that screamed 'this-stays-between-us' before turning to greet the group.
"Elle and I just wanted to go over the game," said James smoothly, "but we're finished and we're all yours." He caught Lily's eye and winked, resisting the compulsion to reiterate how wonderfully he played with a simple smile. Struggling to downplay her blushes, Lily returned his charm.
"You were really great out there, your sixth goal was your best though, it was a classic Frightbury-," Giselle frantically shook her head and quickly mouthed 'Finbourgh!' over James' shoulder and Lily rushed to correct herself, "Finbourgh Flick! You looked really, uh… cool."
He found her mistake incredibly endearing and he grinned, enraptured by her.
"You're adorable," he couldn't help but admit, soaking in her attention, "thank you, Lily."
His restraint in not boasting about his performance was working and he soon escorted her out of the tent as she asked him about the game, the pair of them ignoring their friends entirely. The second they left, however, Giselle heard Sirius' loud, deep tones drift through the entrance and she silently groaned, she hoped he was already back at the school. The sickening dislike for the boy came back the second James left, she didn't care that he had been disowned - his problems weren't hers anymore.
"Well that was… odd," mused Peter, staring after the enamoured couple, "was it just me or was she flirting?"
"If that was Lily flirting then Merlin's beard they're just as hopeless as each other," scoffed Remus, ditching the sign as his hands were starting to cramp.
"Hey, she's trying! Leave the poor girl alone," defended Giselle, pouting at the boys, "I can only help so much though, you should have heard her this morning practicing in the mirror, you wouldn't know it but she's improved in the last few hours. That was some of her best work."
Remus shook his head and massaged his closed eyes, relieving some of his pain. "Merlin, help them."
Giselle stared out of the classroom window and watched the snowflakes race to the ground, mesmerised by the fierceness of the wintry weather display instead of listening to her Dark Arts teacher, Professor Irvine. He was currently explaining how they were going to be spending their lessons leading up to the winter break but his voice was extremely dull and monotonous, it faded into the background too easily and she couldn't stop the daydreams it induced but thanks to Beauxbatons' competent defensive programmes, she was confident in her abilities and she knew she wasn't missing anything she didn't already know.
But suddenly the sound of chairs scraping against the wooden floor and murmurs of her classmates filled the air, snapping her back to reality.
"What's going on?" Giselle turned to Lily who was shrugging out of her heavy robe. "What did I miss?"
Lily scoffed and rolled her eyes as she scooped up her possessions from their joint desk.
"Grab your stuff, the tables about to-," but her warning was a second too late and the desks crowding the classroom scurried to the sides of the room, chairs sliding in beside them, stacked and out of the way. Giselle spotted her handbag crammed in between the wall and their desk and shrugged, too lazy to fetch her possessions.
"Everyone, get into your lines please!" announced Professor Irvine from the front of the class, surveying the room as he scratched his wiry auburn beard, "come on now, quickly!"
"Lils," started Giselle anxiously, "what are we doing?" She dumped her own robes with her friends and rolled up her shirt sleeves, catching the amount of wands there were being drawn from pockets. She automatically copied.
"Duelling module," she said quickly, used to her friend's lack of awareness, "we're spending the rest of the term practicing our techniques for our practical exam." Fortunately the Defence Against the Dark Arts class was one of the less popular subjects chosen in their year, there weren't many people in their class and, to Giselle's chagrin, due to their tiny size she had no choice but to interact with Sirius. She quickly spotted him on the other side of the room and silently thanked her professor for holding onto rather old-fashioned views - he liked to keep the boys separate from the girls.
"Brilliant!" chirped Giselle, falling into line between Lily and Emmeline Vance, a smiley slender Hufflepuff. Professor Irvine wanted to see how the opposite sexes fared against each other and the sudden realisation that she'll have to duel Sirius fuelled her confidence. "I can't wait to wipe that stupid look off Black's face."
Marlene, who had saddled up next to Emmeline, stuck her neck out and shot Giselle a glare of warning. "Careful what you say, Crouch. You don't know how strong he is," she spat, catching the ears of the surrounding girls. Scoffing, Giselle turned back and sent her a pretty smile, no hint of worry on her features.
"And you don't know how seriously duelling is taken in France," she shrugged, seeming indifferent, "this is going to be very interesting."
"Try not to wound him too badly," whispered Lily once the professor called up the first students at the front of the line - Slytherin Sophie Spooner versus James Potter.
Giselle's lips twitched and she stared Lily directly in the eye.
"I'll certainly try," she chuckled under her breath.
"Wands at the ready!"
The duels were fascinating, Giselle couldn't help but lose herself in the awestruck exhibits from each of her classmates. The duelling mat was destroyed several times from the vicious spells that were used and she had developed a small twinge in her neck from the amount of times she had to duck from a stray whizzing hex, everyone was showing off to the highest degree with obscure curses and non-verbal demonstrations. Naturally, Giselle wanted to show off too and soon it was her turn to take part in the exercise.
"Great work, Miss Evans," complimented Irvine, nodding towards Lily who beamed as she helped Hufflepuff Frankie Williams to his feet, "a perfect demonstration of the Confundus Charm! As you can see, Williams cannot focus on his surroundings thus giving Evans the perfect chance to run away and bonus points for non-verbal casting!"
Irvine cleared the mat and called the next pair forwards - "Crouch, Snape - you're up."
Giselle twirled her wand and stepped forwards, eyeing up her opponent in an attempt to be intimidating but the boy behind Severus in the line caught her eye when he joined her on the mat. Sirius swore to himself, vehemently pissed off that he had miscounted the number of people in the girl's line - he wanted to duel her first. Her opposition blocked her view of Black and shot her a menacing smirk, ready to start the duel.
"Greetings Severus," she said sweetly, "don't worry, I'll go lightly on you."
"Don't patronise me, Crouch," spat Snape, stretching his wand hand as he tightened the fastening of his Slytherin robes, "you're too arrogant for your own good, prepare to learn a very valuable lesson." He had been itching to challenge his reluctant potions partner, Giselle had been more than hostile towards him during Potions ever since she found out he had fully embraced the lifestyle of a blood purist.
"What lesson is that? How to be a shameless racist?" she taunted. His scowl deepened and she ignored the muffled snicker from Lily behind her.
"Bow to each other," ordered Irvine, pacing beside the mat as he watched his students. Giselle exaggerated her bow, flourishing her wand hand out of habit from her Beauxbatons duelling meetings whereas Severus merely jerked his head, his beetle black eyes not moving from her face.
"Three, two-,"
"Impedimenta!" shouted Snape, too impatient for the countdown. Giselle reflected his jinx with a silent shield and forced her opponent to move as she started to circle him, she knew to keep him on his toes in order to keep him on edge and the paranoia seeped into his brain. His eyes got smaller and he bared his teeth. Ropes shot out of his wand in an attempt to bind Giselle but she severed them with a flick and they flopped to the ground, useless.
"Come on Snape, try harder!" she jeered, smirking at the Slytherin. He smoothed his greasy hair out of his furious face and fought on harder than before. Before he could extend his arm again, Giselle silently tripped him up with a simple knockback jinx and pictured the beautiful gardens that surrounded Beauxbatons' palace.
"Melofors!" A fizzling orange spell blasted Snape in the face and the room erupted in laughter as his head ballooned and transformed into an enormous pumpkin with a sharp pop! The new weight of his head took him by surprise and he staggered backwards, falling over his own feet. Wanting to add an extra creative touch, Giselle paralysed his body with the full body-bending curse and decorated his body with vibrant wildflowers as she muttered, "Herbifors!"
By the time she was done, Snape resembled one of the eye-catching flowerbeds lining the greenhouses out in the grounds.
"My, my," exclaimed Professor Irvine, stroking his beard as she admired Giselle's Snape-shaped artwork on the ground, "they certainly teach with style over in France, eh? Well done Crouch, marvellous work!"
"Merci professeur," drawled Giselle teasingly, enjoying the way Sirius glowered at her. His arms were crossed and his stance was surly, he loathed how well she performed and wore his need to fight her on his face like a badge and to further batter the point that her existence was a thorn in his side, he profusely ignored the roars of laughter from his friends as they gawked at flowerbed Snape.
"He looks so much better as a pumpkin, he should make the change permanent," commented James with a sigh before shooting Giselle a hasty wink, "smashing job Elle!"
"Thanks!" she replied loudly, hoping the sound of her voice pissed Sirius off more, "I guess he should have kept his gourd up!"
"Yeah, he is looking a little squashed!" snorted Remus, unable to help himself.
Once Snape was transfigured back (Giselle felt his lour on her face for the rest of the lesson) the duels continued and Giselle joined the back of the ladies line once more. Lily and Emmeline immediately pulled her into a whispered conversation about her flowery performance and pressed her for details on French duelling etiquette, eager to learn a few tricks for themselves. Pretending that she couldn't see Marlene's subtle crane of her neck, Giselle gossiped about her past experiences with combat as they waited for their next turn.
As she crept closer to the front of the line again, Giselle noticed Sirius persuading Peter to swap with him as he would be next up to fight her. The clown inside of her cheered in celebration and reminded her to take the upper hand, she couldn't let him win this time.
"Hey Lils, wanna swap places?" whispered Giselle, glancing over her shoulder as she fluttered her lashes. Arching a brow, Lily inspected the boys' line and bit the corner of her smile, amused at her best friend's antics.
"Go on then, just this once," she murmured, sneakily sliding in front of Giselle.
"That was the closest call yet," considered Irvine, instructing his quill to scribble down his notes on the parchment on his desk, "outstanding performances from you both but Mr Lupin, please escort Miss Vance to the hospital wing as she is losing quite a lot of blood."
Remus flushed madly and hurried to bandage up Emmeline's wounded leg, continuously apologising for his vigour. The pair limped from the classroom and the professor announced the next pair.
"Evans, Black, off you go."
"FUCK SAKE!" yelled Sirius, realising what Giselle had done. He stormed onto the mat and stared at her, seething. He had abandoned his robes two duels ago for cleaner manoeuvres but his body was stretched with rage, her eyes were drawn to his taut shirt sleeves and the sliver of dark hair poking out of his unbuttoned collar but they snapped back to his face when he snarled.
"Don't be a coward, Crouch, face me like a man," he threatened, sidestepping around Lily who was preparing for their duel. Giselle stifled her snorts of abhorrence and mockingly cooed.
"Like you know anything about being a man, Black! Don't make me laugh!"
Her avoidance of duelling Sirius became a class-wide joke and the ladies joined in with her fun, purposely jumping the queue whenever they saw that Sirius was coming up next and Giselle couldn't stop her giggles as each intervention sent him into another downward spiral. Marlene, being the ever supportive girlfriend, tried to help Sirius in capturing Giselle off-guard but she never prevailed as the others beat her to it. The boys, however, stayed out of it.
"We have time for one more duel before the bell tolls," announced Professor Irvine wearily, beckoning his battered students to join him at the front of the class. He admired their bruises proudly and referred to his register to see which lucky pair had the chance to perform one last time. "Now, I've taken notes on all of the pairs that duelled here today and it seems like one combination never came up so I will not be asking for volunteers - Black, Crouch," he looked up from his parchment and the whole class turned to stare at Giselle and Sirius, "time to duel."
Relishing in everyone's anticipation, Giselle barely glanced at Sirius and assumed the position back on her side of the mat, clenching her jaw tightly. Her heart raced, thumping against her ribs in a sickening rhythm that churned her stomach, she needed to be on top form now more than ever and the threat of failing in front of Black thudded repeatedly inside her head. Stun him, disarm him, cut off all his hair, you know how much he loves his precious hair-
"On the count of three," said Irvine, observing the pair with a straight spine and his hands behind his back, "get ready… one-,"
"I've been dying to do this," jeered Sirius suddenly, stretching his arms with a roll of his shoulders, "this has been a long time coming." He looked down at her and emphasized her short stature with a derisive glare, another intimidation tactic.
"Two-," continued Irvine, ignoring the snarky duellers.
"Right back at you, Black," sneered Giselle, raising her wand, "va te faire foutre!" The french insult jabbed Sirius' tender spots and he gripped his wand tighter.
"-three!"
The shower of spells were violent, the duellers were aiming with the intention to hurt and they didn't care if they caught anyone else in their storm, their eyes never left each other. Giselle could feel the heat of his fury in his scorching curses, he really wanted to injure her and his technique was flawless but she never gave up. Her misdirection and movement-crushing jinxes played with Sirius' form, he was getting more worked up with every foot stumble and her impish tricks pushed him past his limit.
"Locomotor Mortis!" bellowed Sirius, slashing at her legs after he distracted her with a flurry of vicious birds. The distracting pecks and scratches of the flying weapons were too much for Giselle and she didn't block his curse in time, she felt her legs snap together and she toppled backwards onto the mat with a soft thud.
"Ah!" she squealed and flung her wand out at him, surprising him one last time, "Expelliarmus!"
Sirius' wand shot out of his hand as though an invisible man had ripped it from his grip and Giselle tossed it aside as a sign of disrespect, relaying to her opponent that he was inferior. Her rude gesture sent him into a blinding rage and he lost control - the duel became physical. Sirius kicked Giselle's wand out of her hand, carelessly bending back her fingers in the process and successfully disarming his victim on the floor. "You're fucked now, Crouch," he hissed coldly.
"You've resorted to physical violence, I count this as a win. Such a strong man you are, beating up a defenceless girl," she spat back, winding him up further. She sneered up at him and attempted to sit up but he never gave her the chance. The beating of her heart sent dull thuds around her body and she could hear ringing in her eardrums but before she could spit out another insult, Sirius stood over her, bent down low, and pinned her to the mat by her neck. Giselle froze, speechless.
"Say one more word," he breathed, searching her eyes for some sort of reaction. He wanted her to squirm. "One word and I will end you." His full weight unexpectedly crushed her as he sat on her, squeezing all of the air from her lungs and feeling it escape from her throat but her eyes were glued to his raised fist, he was seconds away from punching her in the face.
"Black, you've already won the duel," reminded Irvine quickly, sensing the rising tension, "no need to hurt the girl."
"This duel isn't over until I say it's over," clarified Sirius, not breaking their eye contact. His fist twitched and Giselle licked her lips, summoning the courage to stay calm. He was losing control and she still felt like she had the upper hand, she could feel his body trembling and she wanted to make it worse.
"Mate, don't," warned James, piping up from the sidelines. The other students were enthralled with the performance and collectively held a breath.
"No - do it. Hurt me. I know you want to," choked Giselle, gasping for breath. The closeness of the man she hated so much had made her incredibly light-headed and her heart threatened to burst out of her ribcage. "I dare you."
Suddenly she felt something hard twitch against her abdomen, something hidden beneath his trousers-
Her eyes bulged out of her head when she saw Sirius sweat, he knew she sensed his arousal and the panic wiped away his fearsome expression instantaneously. Hot, thick realisation trickled through her body like flames and Giselle squeezed her eyes shut as Sirius swung his fist, preparing for the agony. Please don't hit me in the jaw! She prayed, still sore from her encounter with Junior.
THUD!
The leather mat jostled from the force of his punch and she felt his fist beside her head, the sound deafened her left ear and she rasped for air, shaken from the fakeout. Giselle dared to look up at him and flinched from the sheer outrage in his dark, steel eyes, reading his thoughts easily as though he were screaming them out loud - he couldn't hurt her and he hated himself for it.
Without another word, Sirius jumped to his feet and stomped out of the classroom, slamming the door shut behind him just as the clocktower bell rang out across the castle. The arrival of the bell sparked life back into the class and they hurried to divert their eyes from the stunned girl on the floor, gossiping amongst themselves about the dramatic and rather intimate confrontation between the two enemies. Hiding her blushes, Giselle scrambled for her wand and muttered the countercurse, freeing herself from Black's binds before watching the Gryffindor boys run after their friend.
"That was… interesting," said Lily under her breath as she passed Giselle her robes. The small smirk on her pink lips was very telling but Giselle kept the intimate details of Sirius' impromptu attack to herself. The dirty growls from the retreating Marlene were enough to keep her lips sealed, she kept telling herself that she imagined the whole thing and that she was fired up from the fight. Nothing happened, she repeated over and over again.
"Mhm… very interesting," Giselle replied quietly as they left their Dark Arts lesson, "very interesting indeed."