{Disclaimer: The Harry Potter World was created by J.K. Rowling and rights are owned by, but not limited to Warner Brothers and Scholastic Books. I, therefore, own no parts of this, save for the characters that are parts of my own imagination, mostly including Andromeda McGee and Wyvern}
Chapter 21
To Be Beaten
**"Arthur felt happy. He was terribly pleased that the day was for once working out so much according to plan. Only twenty minute ago he had decided he would go mad, and now here he was already chasing a Chesterfield sofa across the fields of prehistoric Earth." Chapter 2, Life, The Universe, and Everything Douglas Adams**
Andy stormed out of the infirmary. Sometimes Snape went too far. He was a Slytherin on top of everything else. It was his nature to be cruel and manipulative. She let herself wander outside around the grounds. The weather was cooling rapidly so not many people were outdoors. The lake seemed to beckon to her. Andy sat on its shore skipping pebbles across the mirrored surface. One, two, three, plunk. One, two, plunk. One, two, three, four, seven, eight, fourteen, sixteen, nineteen, plunk. "That was cheating."
"It got your attention, didn't it?"
"It did," she admitted. "What do you want, Moony?"
"Sirius was worried about where you ran off to."
"So he sent you to find me?"
"I saw you out the window and came down. I take it that the meeting with Snape did not go well?"
Andy turned to look at the werewolf. "No meeting with Snape goes well."
"What did he say about the Quidditch match?"
"He said he'll do it."
Remus seemed shocked. "How did you get him to agree?"
"The usual, threaten him, tell him we were going to get McGonagall to play if he didn't, mentioned that we would probably end up having to play Gryffindor."
"That got him, didn't it? He'd be going against Harry."
"Exactly. Then we traded a good amount of insults and I walked out."
"Sounds like old times."
"Time never grows old, everything else does."
Remus nodded thoughtfully. "He didn't have a problem with Sirius?"
"Severus Snape will always have a problem with Sirius Black. Personally, I don't believe he was thinking straight and was too overly thrilled by being able to take on Potter. He did call us homicidal and Kamikaze, if that helps."
"I would have expected worse."
"Later, I have to beat it into both their thick skulls that only after the match can they kill each other."
"That would be an interesting spectacle: Death Eater verses Convicted Murderer and Azkaban escapee."
"I was joking."
"I know. Why are you taking this on yourself, Andy?"
"You mean Snape?"
"Yes."
"Because no one else will. The rest of the team is either terrified of him, wants to kill him, or purposely ignores him with no connections what so ever."
"And you don't apply to any of these?"
"Oh, he has plenty of grudges against me. I guess it's a mutual respect thing. The old Potions Master took Snape and me under his wing and taught us more advanced potion making. We learned to put up with each other."
"So that's why you always disappeared down to the Potions Dungeons. I always wondered about that."
"Well, now you know. I only said it was for academic purposes."
"Sirius would have killed someone if he knew it was just you and Snape in the dungeons."
"Which is exactly why you won't tell him before the Quidditch match or I will personally have your head on a dinner platter."
"I wouldn't even think of it."
"You always were the trustworthy one."
"You kept my secret. I can keep yours. We ought to head back up before Sirius has a kitten or two, as amusing as that would be."
Andy smiled. Trust Moony to try and cheer her up. "All right. Let's go." She threw the last stone that she had been holding into the lake.
Sirius was waiting for them in the Potions Dungeon. "Where the hell have you been?"
"I don't even get a 'hello, Andy, how are you?' I thought you said you weren't going to be a parent because you sure are damn well acting like one."
"Andy, I…"
She cut him off sharply. "I don't care, okay, you can worry all you want about me, but it's not going to help. I can take care of myself, Sirius. You seem to be forgetting that we've all grown up or maybe you haven't, but the rest of us have."
Sirius held out his hands to ward her off. "Jeezum, calm down." He grabbed her by the shoulders to look her straight in the eyes. "I have the right to be worried about you, Andy. The last time you disappeared you didn't come back."
She gave him a sad smile. "I apologize. I'm not used to having people to worry about me."
Sirius pulled her into him. "Don't ever leave me again."
"Ahem," Remus cleared his throat.
"Sorry," Sirius had the right to look abashed.
"Were you felling left out? Did you want a hug too?" Andy almost sounded innocent for a moment as she embraced Remus. The werewolf turned a shade of magenta.
"Come on, you two. Gryffindor's on the Quidditch pitch for practice. I want to go watch Harry."
The Gryffindor Quidditch team was already in the air practicing. The three Chasers were attempting to score on their new Keeper, Ron Weasley. The other Weasleys on the team were hitting Bludgers at each other and Harry was simply flying around working on maneuvering through his dives. Sirius waved to his godson.
"Professor, watch out! Bludger!"
Andy grabbed a sturdy stick that was lying nearby on the ground. She whacked the Bludger up towards the clouds in the sky, sending a rise of dust with the tree branch.
"That was awesome! You could have been a great Beater, professor!" one of the Weasley twins exclaimed.
"Thank you, Fred. And for your information, I was a Beater once."
"How can you tell us apart?"
"What team did you play for?"
Andy grinned at their exuberance. "That would be classified information and Gryffindor, of course."
"Do you still play?"
"We can find out." She looked at Sirius with a maniacal glint in her eye. "Want to have a go?" Sirius could only return her expression. He had missed doing this. The duo grabbed the extra brooms leaning against the wall and the other pair of bats.
"Let's get 'em!" They jumped onto the broomsticks, rocketing into the sky.
"Come on, Weasleys give us your best shot!"
Fred shot one Bludger high to the left while George hit the other one in the opposite direction. Sirius accelerated upward, bat smacking the ball back towards the earth. Andy had dived low, scooping up underneath it and ricocheting the deranged object into a collision with its twin. Both Bludgers flew in completely different directions than they had come from originally. The Weasley twins raced after them, putting the Bludgers back into play. Black over estimated the trajectory and had to leap off his broom to return the shot. His balance fell short, dropping him downward. Andy dove to catch him on the back of her broom and returning him to his own while at the same time keeping the Bludgers from pummeling them. Sirius went off in the other direction leaving Andy to go back to catching the low ones. She dived back down, not able to get far enough below the Bludger to hit it solidly. She let herself barrel roll upside down and cracked it from there.
"Team!" bellowed Angelina Johnson, the new team captain. "Meeting!"
The Weasley brothers rocketed back to the ground followed by Andy and Sirius.
"Where's the box?" Sirius asked tersely as the Bludgers began to descend. One of the Chasers gestured to the side where the open box lay. The Bludgers plummeted back to earth, Sirius grappling with one and Andy tackling the other. They fought to get the Quidditch balls back into their harnesses.
"Damn feisty little things," Andy muttered.
"Watch the language. There are minors around."
The team meeting was relatively short, given that its only purpose was to disclose the time of their next practice. Remus came down from his seat in the stands. "You two are going to kill yourselves doing that."
"Hey, if it works, it works," Sirius shrugged.
"We have yet to kill each other."
The Weasley twins rushed over. "How did you do that?"
"Do what?"
"The thing where you jumped off the broom, while still hitting the Bludger," told Fred, obviously wanting to try it.
"It only takes practice and complete trust in the other person," Sirius explained."
"How about the flip thing?"
"It's a barrel roll, just staying upside down. The major secret to it is to grip the broom with your feet and your arm so you don't fall off."
"Thanks, professors," the Weasley twins left the field chatting about attempting the new maneuvers.
"Hey, Sirius," Harry approached the group, Firebolt in hand.
"Hullo, Harry."
"How come you never told me you were a Beater?"
"I don't know. I guess I just forgot about it."
"You sure gave Fred and George a run for their money."
"We were some of the best Beaters in the entire history of Hogwarts. Right, Andy?"
Andy turned from her in depth conversation with Remus about how they were not going to kill themselves with the Bludgers. "Wrong. We were the best."
"Harry, I'd like you to meet Andy McGee. She's another one from the group of your father and mother's friends. Andy, meet Harry Potter."
They shook hands. "You knew my parents?"
"Lily and I were the only two female Gryffindors that year. It would be almost impossible for us not to have known each other. You could say we were best friends, nearly inseparatable."
"Hey!" Sirius interjected. "What about me?"
"Boyfriends don't count."
"Oh," Sirius looked upset.
"It was through Sirius I met your father. You have his Quidditch skills. He was a fabulous Seeker, certainly caused Snape enough agony."
"Professor Snape was a Seeker?"
"He was, though your father beat him more times than not."
"That would probably be another reason why he hates me so much," Harry mused.
"Among other things, yes it would be."
Ron waved from near the entrance. "I have to go. We're off to Hogsmeade this afternoon. 'Bye!" Harry ran off with his friend.
"He reminds me so much of James at that age, it's almost frightening.'
"It is. It really is."
{Author's Note: And the point of this chapter was only because I had the scene with the Bludgers going through my head at odd hours of the night and needed to write it down before it haunted my dreams forever and ever. Oh, well. The good stuff is coming soon!
Anna Black: Fine, I've changed it. You have to excuse me for a moment. Prisoner of Azkaban is currently residing in my aunt's house, since she had yet to give it back to me. Grrr…You know how many times I have needed it to double check things in it and haven't been able to? I completely agree! Coffee ice cream rocks! The cat thing was a long time ago. I'm surprised I remembered it. No, I wasn't going to ask about your friends. As long as you don't ask about mine, we're perfectly wonderful. They are all a bunch of psychos, in case you were wondering. I happen to be a singer/musician/et cetera kind of person, so I know lyrics and I still have the song going through my head. It's fighting with the Marching Band music.
Iggie: Yes, you got a plug. You deserve it. Go do what ever kind of happy dance you want to. You gave me one, I return the favor.
Peace, Love, and Coffee Ice Cream, Nataly Ravenlock}
