Someday, I will own something of great value. This will not be Harry Potter, as J K Rowling already owns it.
Quidditch
Between organizing the Slytherin Quidditch team, doing her regular homework, and the DA meetings, Ryua didn't have time for anything else. In fact, even the Quidditch team was slipping, with the occasional jinx getting fired at one Gryffindor player or other. She always berated those she caught, of course, and had actually scorched the hems of Ashley's robes for a particularly nasty curse done to a chaser. That ensured the others didn't do anything for three whole days, as they knew that she had just lost her control for a moment. None of them wanted to see Ryua in a full fury.
In fact, the people at the DA meetings had started jockeying to get out of being her partner those days when she came in glowering. This meant that she was with either Harry or Neville, who oddly enough had decided he wasn't scared of her anymore. Must have been the whole sympathy thing… just what I wanted to build my reputation on.
Actually, it made a nice change from the whole Slytherin House edging away from her. Sometimes that was nice, most of the time it was depressing.
On the fourth meeting, Neville was just pulling Ryua off the floor, babbling apologies while she tried to tell him that that was the whole point of the spell, when Hermione called them all towards the center. Although Harry was the acknowledged 'teacher', Hermione was in control of all the organizing. When she announced she'd put a Protean charm on the Galleons she was handing out, Ryua was as shocked quiet as the rest. Not only did she know that a Protean charm was NEWT level, well beyond anything she'd ever manage, but she'd only known one other instance of a Protean charm.
Sure enough, Harry picked up on it too. "You know what these remind me of?"
"No, what?" Hermione asked.
"The Death Eaters' scars. Voldemort touches one of them, and all their scars burn, and they know they've got to join him."
"Well… yes, but you'll notice I decided to engrave the date on bits of metal rather than on our members' skin…"
"Very good choice, Hermione. I've always thought that was an utterly disgusting way of doing it." Ryua said as she picked up the last Galleon. "Looks so painful too… especially now."
"Yeah, he seems to like inflicting pain for no particular reason…" Harry said, rubbing his scar.
"Gives you headaches?" Ryua asked in surprise.
"Yes, well, not as much as Umbridge will do to us if she catches us out of dorms this late. Go on, it's clear down to the dungeons now."
"Okay, thanks…" Ryua pulled on her lethifold, a new addition after Mrs. Norris had caught her on the way back six nights ago and she'd only escaped by stunning the cat and running before the spell wore off. She'd been lucky, spells tended to slide off Mrs. Norris with little or no effect, and she wasn't about to risk it again.
The day before the first Quidditch match, Ryua was a bit tense. It had been two weeks since the last DA meeting, since both teams had been practicing non-stop, and Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw had the pitch the few days it was open. Therefore, she hadn't cursed anything in a while. The team had been surprisingly good, and she'd only hexed Pucey once, weeks back. They had been so good, in fact, that Ryua had started stalking her players, to see what they were plotting.
Nothing was turned up. Well, unless you counted Cassie being caught with a Hufflepuff prefect under the stairs after hours, or Crabbe and Goyle raiding the kitchen for the fourth time in two days. She'd given it all up to nerves, in fact, and had just decided to pulverize some dung beetles for Snape's stores to release some tension. When Ryua got back, it was just after nine, but she ordered the team to bed anyway within half an hour. She waited for all six murmurs of assent, plus Josh's immediate departure before going off to bed herself. The kid had as much enthusiasm as three of her other players, and was very, very stubbornly into every bit of training and team business.
Ten minutes after she was gone, Draco pulled out a box of badges from his bag. "Here."
"Ooh, you got them?" Pansy asked, immediately abandoning her homework.
"Of course. I'm not about to pass up something this good." He said, passing them around the house. "Weasley's about the easiest mark that's ever come into this school."
"You sure about this, Draco?" Cassie asked, eyeing the badge he'd just tossed at her. "I mean, isn't this a little low?"
"Of course not. If Weasley can't handle a little prodding, then he doesn't belong on the team."
"If that's the case, than why don't you give one to Ryua?" Ashley said, arms crossed and ignoring the badge Pansy was trying to give her.
"Aw, c'mon Snape," Draco said, "You know her. She's too upright about stuff. Honestly, she's a near Hufflepuff when it comes to fair play."
"I still think it's a bad idea."
"Well, then, here's this. If you don't wear one, I'll give you detention over the match." Pansy said gleefully.
"You wouldn't." Ashley's eyes narrowed.
"Yeah, she would, and I'd back her up!" said Draco, having sent the last of the badges into the younger dorms.
For a moment, it looked like Josh would get to play a match after all. Ashley glared, and looked like she'd like to snarl, but took the badge and stuck it in her pocket, going off to the dorms without a backwards glance. Cassie followed suit, and the rest of the team realized that Ryua would quite possibly come out and send them all to bed if they weren't there within the next five minutes.
So Ryua didn't know any of this occurrence until the rest of her house got up the next morning. And even then, she was paying more attention to Ron all the way across the Hall. She'd never seen anyone look so happily dazed before, and all from one little peck on the cheek. Until she saw Harry look rather horrified at something the Slytherin house seemed to be wearing. Ryua snapped around to see little crown-shaped badges everywhere, printed with Weasley is our King boldly across them.
Well, it's a bit low, nothing I would have done, but Ron's not even going to notice them at this rate, and I think he's stronger than what a few badges could undo… Of course, he did look rather green when Draco practically shoved it in his face, and was a bit pale on the pitch, but that could have been nerves by that point. He'd pick up once he was in the air, Quidditch players always did…
"Captains, shake hands," came Madam Hooch's familiar order. Ryua nodded slightly as she shook Angelina Johnson's hand. She'd never seen any real point in trying to break someone's hand. Not only was it a really pointless display of useless strength, but also if she'd actually succeeded, she'd have been kicked off the team for the game at least.
Up in the air, all her worries evaporated. Ron may be her friend, but Ryua had a match to win. Everything was so clear in a quidditch match. There was black and white, good and bad, winning and losing, no middle grades, no maybes, no exceptions… just your team and the other team, seven on seven, an even match.
At least, until Ryua heard the crowd below her start up a song. Weasley cannot save a thing, he cannot block a single ring… She whipped around, and her eyes fixed immediately on Pansy's familiar figure directing the song. Furiously, Ryua flipped over and clubbed the incoming quaffle across the pitch with her clenched fists.
How dare they! Do they think we can't win honestly? Do they have that little faith in us? As if Ron needed any help being nervous anyway! He was shaking before they started it up, and now he's barely on his broom! Longbottom would have better luck!
Ryua glared about the pitch, noticing how her team stayed outside of bellowing range. Far enough out, in fact, that the three Gryffindor chasers had an un-contested opening to her three hoops and slipped in the quaffle. Only Pucey dared come close enough to catch her pass, and he was gone before she could say a thing. Two more goals later, and Ryua was just aching for the game to end. Anyone could see how it would turn out. They could easily get 16 goals past Ron, but not before Harry caught the snitch. Especially when his friend's dignity was on the line. Draco was too cocky, relied too much on Crabbe and Goyle to get really skilled on his own. When they went into a dive, Ryua didn't even bother to watch, but kept her eyes fixed instead on Pansy, plotting where she might go, how quickly, who she'd probably be with…
She looked up to see Ron trudging alone back to the Gryffindor changerooms, and the rest of his team celebrating, although more from relief than triumph. Crabbe was being yelled at, probably because he was the reason Harry was rubbing his back. Draco was saying something, probably trying to save face over missing the snitch again…
Too late, she saw Harry's hand on George's, the look on all their faces… Ryua dove down at the group, seeing Draco blanch and stumble back as Harry and George fell on him, Crabbe behind Madam Hooch and Goyle already in the changerooms because of a nasty bludger…
She pulled up as Hooch's jinx threw the Gryffindors off. Ryua paused just long enough to ascertain that most of Draco's whimpering was fluff to get them in trouble, and took off, eyes glinting as she caught sight of Pansy walking back to the castle. Draco was suffering enough pain for now, it was time to give Pansy a bit.
"Parkinson!" Ryua called across the grounds. Pansy's group of giggly girls evaporated, leaving the older girl wide open. Ryua shot in on her broom, whipping around and hovering at eye level with her. "I thought I told you to leave the Quidditch pitch to me, Parkinson."
"Oh, Ryua, do come off it. We just thought you'd like a little help…"
"Help?" Ryua's voice was echoing some rather furious undertones. If it had been Draco she was talking to, he would have run head over heels. Pansy, however, hadn't seen Ryua mad before.
"Of course. Since you don't seem to be Slytherin enough to do what you need to to win…" She was cut off by Ryua's gesture. A gesture which meant that she was suddenly picked up by an invisible hand, and squeezed until breathing was rather uncomfortable.
Ryua had barely started. Lazily, she sat back on her broom, free hand reaching slowly inside her robes. "You know, Pansy, I meant it. The Quidditch team is mine, and I don't like people messing with my things. I don't want you to ever meddle in Quidditch affairs again," she said, as she started to pull out her wand. "So, if you ever, ever do anything like that again…"
"Expelliarmus!" came a quick voice from across the field. Ryua hissed with annoyance and shook her hand, which was stinging from the spell. She whirled, to see Professor Snape fielding her wand, and breaking her hold on Pansy with his own. "To my office, Miss Parkinson, I will meet you there momentarily." Ryua heard Pansy hit the ground and run off, panting and holding back tears.
"Sir!"
"Ryua, that was the most irresponsible, stupid thing you've done to date. Potter and the Weasley twins are likely to be thrown off the team for starting a provoked brawl on the pitch with another player. And you think that this won't get you worse?"
"She deserved it…"
"In your mind, perhaps, and maybe even in others. But Umbridge hates you, and will take any excuse to make your life miserable. And here you are, attacking a fellow student, while mounted, without any provocation at all. Do you have any idea how this is going to look?"
"It's not like I got to do anything, sir. You saw to that."
Snape's lips thinned, and he gestured at her broom. It dumped her off, and she barely managed to keep her feet as he caught it. He turned and walked away, and it was clear he expected to be followed. Snape was one of the few people in the world she'd obey and order like that from, and she stalked after him.
Once she'd caught up, he said, "If you had actually managed to pull your wand, there is little I or Dumbledore would be able to do to keep you in this school."
"So?" Ryua asked, fully aware she was acting like a sullen child.
"So, you would go home, expelled, in disgrace of the wizarding world. Your father would not be amused."
"I can deal with him."
"So you think. And maybe you can. But one wizard would be very amused. Ryua," he said, stopping in a shadowed part of the courtyard to look at her, "He is out there. And he has his eye on you and Draco enough as it is. If you leave this school in disgrace, what do you honestly think will happen to you?"
Ryua bit her lip, not quite meeting his gaze, unable to speak.
"He will take you, Ryua. And there is no escape once you're his. Not truly. Not until death. Please understand that there is more to this than honor, than pride. You can stand a little ego bruising if it keeps you alive. Now," he said, walking back out into the courtyard, secretly eager to get out of the November wind, "I will do what I can to keep you in this school, and your captaincy. I'm afraid you're in for a rough few weeks until Umbridge works out her anger, however."
"Yes, sir." Ryua said, wishing now that she had a little more self-control.
